


princesses and co. work through their issues

by wattpadrefugee



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Autistic Entrapta (She-Ra), Bisexual Bow (She-Ra), Bisexual Glimmer (She-Ra), Bisexual Mermista (She-Ra), Bisexual Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Bow (She-Ra) is a Good Friend, Canon Character of Color, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Canon Non-Binary Character, Canon Queer Character, Canon Queer Character of Color, Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Catra (She-Ra) Redemption, Disk Drunk | Infected Adora (She-Ra), F/F, F/M, Glimmer (She-Ra) is a Good Friend, Horde kids, Lesbian Adora (She-Ra), Lesbian Catra (She-Ra), Lesbian Disaster Adora (She-Ra), M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Post-Season/Series 05, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, Scorpia (She-Ra) is a Good Friend, Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra)'s A+ Parenting, Trans Bow (She-Ra), Watching the Show, because she-ra DID THAT, trans bow isn't relevant or mentioned at all i just want you to know he's trans, watching the series
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:00:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24236917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wattpadrefugee/pseuds/wattpadrefugee
Summary: It's been a year since Horde Prime was defeated, and life is good, for once. Peaceful. Adora and Catra are navigating their relationship with minimal bumps in the road, Bow and Glimmer are as cute as ever, and they've made great progress in restoring magic to the Known Universe. Everything's working out.So, when a being, claiming to be Mara, takes them and forces them to watch a show, they're a little confused. But it turns out they've still got a lot to work through, and perhaps watching this "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" could help with that.(NOT DISCONTINUED.)
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra), Kyle/Lonnie/Rogelio (She-Ra), Mermista/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Netossa/Spinnerella (She-Ra), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Comments: 344
Kudos: 849





	1. The Sword: Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> this work is un-beta'd, so please let me know if there are any mistakes so i can correct them!  
> \- flo

Adora woke with a start. Well, ‘woke’ was a relative term. As, when she came to, she was sitting up straight, fully dressed, and found that she couldn’t actually remember falling asleep in the first place. A small groan coming from her right made her turn her head sharply to see Catra, sporting a confused look as she scanned her surroundings. Next to her girlfriend were Scorpia, Lonnie, Kyle and Rogelio. Sitting just behind them was Hordak, Entrapta and Wrong Hordak, who they’d recently taken to calling ‘Dak’.

“What… just happened?”

Glimmer’s voice cut through Adora’s thoughts, stern and final and undoubtedly the voice of a  _ queen _ . She had taken a break from ruling when the Best Friends Squad began their journey to restoring magic to the known universe, but it had been a year since Horde Prime was defeated, and so they had entrusted that task with the Star Siblings, who checked in with them regularly with updates, and Glimmer had taken over from her father to rule once more.

“I’m not sure,” Adora and Bow both said, and looked at each other, grinning, before returning to the conundrum at hand. She looked past her best friends to see the rest of the princesses to the left of them, some also sitting behind them much like Entrapta and the two Hordaks. Sea Hawk joined Mermista, Spinnerella and Netossa on the back row, and the rest of the princesses were sitting in front of them. Adora tuned her head to see Castaspella and Micah sitting directly behind her.

_ “I’m not sure, I’m not-”  _ Kyle’s small shushes cut off Imp, who Adora could now see was sitting in his lap. Rogelio turned to help quieten him down.

“Well  _ I _ , for one, am not just going to sit here and- oh this chair is  _ really _ soft,” said Double Trouble, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and startled nearly everyone in the room. They sat at the end of the row, to her right. She made note of that, as she still didn’t fully trust them.

“ _ You have indeed grown, Adora, _ ” a voice resounded through the dark room, which had no distinctive features other than the chairs and sofas they all sat on.

Catra groaned again.

“Of course this has something to do with  _ princesses _ , and  _ She-Ra _ , when does it not?”

Adora elbowed her. “Who are you?” she asked, into the darkness.

“Yeah, and why can’t we see you?” Frosta yelled, standing up. She was knocked back down.

“Hey!” King Micah shouted indignantly, in Frosta’s defence, “just because we can’t see you doesn’t mean we can’t take you down!” He tried to cast a spell, but the magic couldn’t materialise.

Perfuma couldn’t sense any growth. She told them as such. “It’s like we’re not on Etheria anymore,” she claimed. 

Scorpia chuckled nervously. “Don’t worry, Fuma, I’ll bet that we can get out of this, easy! If I can just…” she trailed off, trying to use her powers.

“Huh?”

The other princesses tried too, but to no avail. Nobody had any weapons, and even Catra couldn’t extend her claws. Finally, Adora tried to summon her sword. Nothing.

“Ugh, not this again,” she complained, but Catra grabbed her hand.

“It’s not you,” she said reassuringly, “It’s this place, it’s blocking all your powers.”

“ _ Only so that you all will listen _ ,” said the voice, interrupting their struggle, “ _ I am about to show you something, a series, entitled ‘ _ She-Ra and the Princesses of Power _ ’. You, all of you, have come so far. It is time to reminisce, look back on all you’ve gone through, so that you may move forwards.” _

“What if we refuse?” Adora tested, earning a look from Glimmer.

“ _ You won’t _ .” And then suddenly the voice had an owner.

“Mara?”

“ _ Yes, Adora. It is important that you all watch this, as it will improve your relationships with each other and your sense of self _ .” Mara said.

Adora relaxed back into the sofa she was sharing with Catra, Glimmer and Bow.

“Okay.”

“What? Just like that, we’re gonna trust the weird disembodied voice?” Mermista asked. Sea Hawk wrapped one arm around her and whispered something in her ear

“Ugh, okay, fine.”

**The scene immediately opened onto Adora, in the Fright Zone. She seemed to be punching something.**

“Oh dear god, we’re going  _ this  _ far back,” Adora said, covering her eyes. Catra snickered at her obvious embarrassment.

**“Hey, princess. You looking at me?” she said, before hitting the picture of a princess.**

Every princess in the room laughed at “Horde Adora”, except for the girl in question, who groaned.

“Wow, Adora, I’m flattered,” joked Glimmer, leaning into Bow, who also chuckled. She simply shook her head in response.

**A woman’s voice sounded, and the scene changed. Adora lined up next to other Horde members.**

**“Anyone seen Catra?” she whispered.**

“Hey that’s us!” Kyle exclaimed to Lonnie and Rogelio, who both nodded fondly and scooched closer to the boy, surrounding him.

**Lonnie, on screen, mumbled something and shook her head. She scoffed.**

**“Not again.”**

“How rude,” Catra complained, “You have no faith in me.”

“You  _ never  _ showed up on time, I’m surprised I even asked about you,” Adora shot back, but there was no malice there, they both knew it.

**A Horde commander talked them through the simulation, before turning to Adora: “Where's Catra?”**

**“She will be here. I promise.”**

“See! I’m covering for you!” Adora defended herself, and her girlfriend smiled.

“Yeah, you are.”

**The scene changed again, and the cadets were fighting in the simulation. Kyle, Rogelio and Lonnie eventually got hit, and Adora fell through the ground. As she hung by her weapon, Catra appeared above her.**

**“Hey, Adora. How's it hanging?”**

**“Catra. Did you really show up late and let us do all the hard parts? That is low, even for you.”**

**“Aw. You know nothing's too low for me,” she paused to laugh, “Now come on, you look stupid hanging down there.”**

“Okay, but you guys were so  _ cute _ before all the She-Ra stuff,” Bow said.

“I know! Why do you think I was so mad!” Catra said.

Bow nodded at her, remarking that it definitely made more sense now.

**Then, they were in the locker rooms.**

**“You should've seen your face. You were like, ‘Aah, no! Betrayal.’”**

“Is that… foreshadowing?” Lonnie said with a smirk.

“Oh, shut up,” Catra snapped. Lonnie looked startled, and Catra looked at her before looking back down.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

**Adora and Catra continued to laugh and joke on screen, as they wound down from the fight.**

This took the other princesses aback. They’d always assumed Adora was completely unhappy in the Horde. It had never occurred to them that parts of it weren’t so bad. We’re actually… nice. 

“Did you ever miss it?” Perfuma asked her.

“Not the Horde itself, but… this, yes.” Catra smiled softly at her.

**“Adora.”**

“Oh, not her again,” Adora sighed.

“For once, I agree with you, good riddance,” Catra quipped back, and all of the Horde kids nodded along uncomfortably. They had never had much of a relationship with Shadow Weaver like Adora and Catra, but she was an unnerving woman all the same.

**Shadow Weaver continued to praise Adora, before turning on Catra when she retaliated.**

**“Silence. Do not be flippant with me, cadet.” she threatened, shadows encircling the poor girl.**

Adora held Catra tighter. She didn’t seem to mind.

**“Sorry Shadow Weaver,” Catra said, eyes trained on the ground.**

**“Adora, walk with me.”**

“She really was  _ horrible _ ,” Glimmer said, shocked.

“Yes she was, Sparkles,” Catra replied, letting out a bitter bark of laughter that made Adora stare at her with worry in her eyes.

**Shadow Weaver told Adora about her promotion, and her first mission.**

**“Thaymor? You mean we're finally seeing active duty?” Adora said, overjoyed.**

**“** **_You_ ** **are seeing active duty,” Shadow Weaver corrected.**

“Thaymor,” Glimmer repeated, and the Best Friends Squad shared sad glances.

**Shadow Weaver went on to say that her team wasn’t ready, that Catra wasn’t ready.**

“Hey! We were  _ so  _ ready!” Lonnie protested, only for Rogelio to place a hand on her shoulder. 

**“I saw talent in you the moment I found you as an orphan child and took you in. Is this not what you've wanted since you were old enough to want anything?”**

“Here comes the manipulation!” Catra said cheerfully, and Adora snorted. She figured a long time ago that it was better to joke about their trauma than let it control them.

**Suddenly, Angella came on screen.**

“Mom,” Glimmer whispered sadly. Bow squeezed her tighter.

**The mother and daughter continued to argue, until-**

**“That's enough! You're grounded!” yelled Angella.**

**Glimmer scoffed in response. “Mom!”**

Everyone let out a small chuckle, and Adora couldn’t help but notice people’s reactions to seeing Angella versus Shadow Weaver. Both Adora’s parental figures, both dead. One, decidedly, better than the other.

**After another flurry of arguments, the focus was on Adora and Catra once more. Catra, upon seeing Adora, greets her by taking her new Force Captain badge.**

**“No way. You've been promoted?”**

**“Well, kind of. I mean, yeah, I guess. Heh. But it's not a big deal.”**

“Always  _ underplaying  _ things, just accept that you’re awesome!”

Adora just snuggled further into Catra’s warmth in response.

**“Adora, I need to blow something up.”**

“Aww! You’re so cute!” Bow said, and Catra rolled her eyes. She had given up trying to stop him from calling her cute long ago.

**Adora explains that she’s the only one who was elected to go, and Catra lashes out.**

**“I guess it sure must be easy being a people pleaser like you.”**

**“I am not a pe-- Catra, wait.”**

“Promise we don’t let Shadow Weaver, or anyone else, mess up our relationship again?” Adora asked tentatively.

“Promise.”

**“Look, I'm sorry…” Adora started.**

“See that’s called an apology Catra, note how I’ve been doing it from the start?”

Catra pushed her off the sofa, much to Glimmer and Bow’s amusement. They refocused their attention back onto the screen.

**“I wonder what's even outside the Fright Zone anyway.”**

**“Why don't we go find out?”**

“Please don’t tell me you did what I think you did.” Kyle sounded panicked.

Catra laughed in response.

**“I take it all back, you’re officially awesome! I can't believe you actually stole a skiff!” Catra yelled.**

**“Borrowed. Please don't make me regret this.”**

**Soon, things dissolved into chaos, and they were arguing over who got to drive.**

“You guys really haven’t changed,” Scorpia laughed, nudging Catra with a wink.

**Soon, they had reached the Whispering Woods.**

**“Let's go in.” Catra smirked.**

**“Wait, what?”**

Everyone laughed at Adora’s reaction, even the girl in question this time, climbing back onto the sofa in between Catra and Glimmer.

**Before they knew it, they were crashing and Adora had found a sword.**

“Woah, that’s-“ Glimmer stopped, glancing at Adora.

“Yeah, it is,” she said in agreement to her half-sentence.

**_“Balance must be restored. Etheria must seek a hero.”_ ** **There was the sound of a baby crying, and then-**

**_“Adora, Adora.”_ **

**_“_ ** **Adora!”**

“I genuinely thought you’d gone insane. I didn’t realise you were gonna have to fulfill a magical destiny as a ridiculous-looking princess!” Catra exclaimed, earning a few small laughs.

**And, they were arguing again.**

**“Ther- There was a sword. It was right here. I tried to touch it, but it got really bright.”**

**“Are you brain damaged?” Catra asked her, sincerely, and grabbed her face.**

“Well that probably wouldn’t help if I actually was!”

“I was panicking, give me a break.”

**The scene changed to Glimmer, who was writing an angry letter to her mother.**

This earned a laugh from Micah.

**Then, an arrow soared past her head and Bow was yelling for her.**

**“Come down here.”**

**“I can't, I'm grounded.”**

**“What?”**

**“I'm grounded.”**

**“...What?”**

Adora and Catra both laughed at this, Adora snorting slightly. Bow smiled sheepishly.

**Glimmer teleported Bow into her room, and went on to complain about her mom.**

The girl looked down onto her lap, feeling guilty. Bow took her hand and squeezed it, and she met his eyes and smiled.

**“Anyway, your mom might have a point. Only reason you got out of there is because of your teleportation powers, and, let's face it, they don't always work that well.”**

**“Looking for support here, Bow!”**

“It was a valid point!”

“I  _ know,  _ Bow, it just wasn’t very helpful,” she laughed.

**Bow went on to mention a reading of First Ones tech in the Whispering Woods. Then Angella knocked on Glimmer’s door, asking if anyone was there with her. Of course, she denied it, growing more frustrated with the Queen. Bow stood waiting, looking only slightly uncomfortable. A door slammed, and Glimmer teleported outside with Bow.**

**“I'm in.”**

“You literally found me and the sword because of your  _ spite _ .”

“No need to review things, Adora!” said Glimmer, ears turning red.

**There’s a scene change, and now Adora’s asleep, dreaming of the voice. She wakes up with a start, and sees Catra sleeping at the foot of her bed. Smiling, she starts to creep away.**

**“Hey, where are you going?”**

“Can’t get anything past you, can I?” Adora asked fondly.

**“Back to the woods. There's something I need to figure out.”**

**Catra tries to stop her, asking again if she’s brain damaged.**

“For the last time, no!”

“How was I supposed to know you were having weird princess dreams?”

**Adora hurries off, leaving Catra shouting after her.**

“That’s the last time we see each other as friends for a while,” Adora realised.

“Yeah.”

“Wow,” Glimmer said, noticing the sad looks on their faces.

**“Come on! Come on!”**

**“Uh! Please tell me we're not lost!”**

Perfuma giggled, and even Mermista smiled at the scene in front of them. It was no wonder the two started dating, they seemed to just bounce off each other.

**“What are you doing out here, Adora? Catra's right, this is crazy. There's no sword, you just got hit on the head a little too hard. You should just go back home and forget about all of this.”**

“Oh dear,” Perfuma said, understanding what was about to happen.

“What? What’s wrong?” Entrapta turned her head to ask.

“I believe this is the build-up to their meeting,” Hordak answered.

“It sure is,” Glimmer said with her head in her hands.

**“Bow, just let me lead the way, okay?”**

**“The light came from the edge of the forest.”**

**They continued to talk amongst themselves, until they looked in front of them. Straight at Adora.**

**“Horde soldier!”**

Adora laughed at their panicked yell, and Glimmer nudged her slightly.

“Hey, we were scrambling, what did you expect?”

**“Get off. Stand down. I don't wanna hurt you,” Adora said.**

“Well I was telling the truth, wasn’t I?”

“You were a Horde soldier, how were we supposed to know?” Glimmer defended herself.

**Then, the screen flashed. “Hello, Adora,” a voice said.**

**“Who are you? What's going on?” she shouted in response.**

“Ugh, I did not want to hear her voice again,” Adora grumbled into Catra’s chest. She nodded sympathetically. Adora had told her everything she had done, and was honestly glad she had been shut off.

**“My name is Light Hope. I have been waiting a long time for you, but I could not reach you until you forged your connection with the sword.”**

**“You sent the sword?”**

“Not exactly, you sent  _ me _ .”

**“The sword is meant for you. Etheria has need of you, Adora. Will you answer its call? Will you fight for the honor of Grayskull?” Light Hope asked, monotone. Adora’s confusion came across.**

**“What are you talking about? What-- What is-- What's Grayskull? You're not making any sense! I don't understand!”**

**“You will.”**

**“Wait!”**

“And there is the start of a recurring theme: asking her questions that she dodges and putting me in dangerous situations.”

“That sucks,” Mermista said.

**“Hey! She's awake.”**

“Oh no,” groaned Bow, embarrassed.

**“Quiet, Horde spy, I ask the questions. How did you make it this far into the Whispering Woods?” Glimmer demanded, trying to take charge of the situation.**

“Wow, you are bad at being intimidating, Sparkles,” Catra cackled.

“It’s not exactly my strong suit,” Glimmer conceded.

**“The Whispering Woods is under the Rebellion's protection. You were lucky to make it as far as you did. Come on, Bow. Let's get this spy back to Bright Moon where she can be interrogated properly,” she said, before whispering to Bow, “This is perfect! Not only do we First Ones tech for the rebellion, we've also captured a Horde spy. My mom's gonna be so impressed!”**

“‘Captured’ is a strong word, I could’ve totally gotten out of it!” Adora insisted.

“Sure, Adora,” Bow teased.

**Suddenly, they’re somewhere else in the Whispering Woods, and Glimmer is arguing with Bow. He gives up, and tries to talk to Adora.**

**“Not much for talking, huh?”**

**“I prefer not to swap pleasantries with my captors,” she replied coldly.**

“Oh yeah? How’d that work out for you?” Bow joked. Adora smiled and reached past Glimmer to flick his arm. The girl in between them just laughed.

**“You know she's a princess, right? How can you follow her? Princesses are a dangerous threat to everyone on Etheria.”**

**“Is that what Hordak told you?”**

“I am… remorseful of my actions towards you cadets. I planted that idea in your head, and that is unforgivable,” Hordak said with his head bowed.

“We forgave you a while ago, dude. What you did was obviously wrong, but you’re learning from it and everything else you’ve done. We aren’t holding your past against you anymore, you’re doing everything you can to make up for it,” Lonnie said with a smile, and the other ex-Horde cadets nodded or hummed in agreement. Hordak smiled.

**Then, they came across a village. Destroyed.**

**“What happened to this place?” Adora asked, face full of shock.**

**“Don't play dumb with me. I bet you were part of the raiding party that did this.”**

“I’m sorry,” Glimmer whispered.

“Don’t be, like you said, how were you supposed to know. Anyway, you deserved to be upset with the Horde.” Adora comforted the shorter girl. They turned back to the screen, where they were yelling at each other.

**“I'm not a destroyer. Hordak says we're doing what's best for Etheria. We're trying to make things better. More orderly,” Adora said, trying to defend herself.**

**“This is what's best for Etheria?” Glimmer shouted. “Ever since the Horde got here, they've been poisoning our land, burning our cities, destroying everything in their path. And you're a part of it! How's that for orderly?”**

“This is when I started questioning everything.”

“You know, I was upset with you but… I would probably have started questioning things too, honestly,” Lonnie admitted. Kyle nodded.

“Yeah, we just thought that you were a traitor, not that you had a legitimate reason for leaving,” he added.

**“Your army** **_is_ ** **called the Evil Horde.”**

**“Who calls us that?” Adora demanded. Bow just stared at her.**

**“...Everybody!”**

People laughed at that, grateful for Bow’s attitude to distract them from the thing they were witnessing. Adora and Glimmer always seemed like such good friends. They had no idea they were once like this.

**“The Horde rescued me when I was a baby and gave me a home. They're my family. You-- you don't know them like I do.”**

**“Maybe you don't know them like you think you do.”**

“Woah, that’s deep,” remarked Double Trouble, mockingly.

**Then they heard a growl, and a giant bug creature veered around the corner and rushed towards them.**

**“Watch out!” yelled Bow.**

**Adora made a break for the sword amongst all the chaos, picking it up while still in her ties. “Hey, bug brain! Come on, Magic Sword. Oh, where's a blinding flash of light when you need one?” she screamed, and the screen flashed once more.**

“Ooo, this is the first time I transformed into She-Ra!” Adora exclaimed.

**_“Adora. Adora. Adora.”_ ** **A baby’s crying.** **_“Will you fight for the honor of Grayskull?”_ **

**“For the honor of Grayskull!”**

The screen cut to black, leaving the group at a loss.

“Should we… continue?” Sea Hawk asked.

“ _ That is up to you _ ,” Mara said, “ _ I have shown you a glimpse of this story, which ends when Horde Prime is defeated. Watching the rest wouill be invaluable, but in the end, it is your decision to make _ .”

“What do you think?” Adora said, turning to Catra, desperately. Catra took her girlfriend’s hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

“What do you want to do, Adora? Whatever you choose, we'll be right behind you.”

“Best Friends Squad,” Bow added.

“Always,” finished Glimmer.

Adora’s gaze flicked between the two of them, and then to her old teammates, the two Hordak’s, the princesses, Sea Hawk, Double Trouble, Castaspella, Micah. It finally landed on Catra.

“I’m up for a stroll down memory lane,” she decided.

The next episode began to play.


	2. The Sword: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> unbeta’d, so let me know if there are any mistakes so i can fix them!  
> \- flo

Adora drew her attention back to the screen.

**_‘The Sword: Part 2’_ ** **flashed across the scene, and She-Ra stood against the bug creature. Bow and Glimmer watched from the background, clearly stunned to silence.**

**“Glimmer?” the boy said, eyes wide.**

**“Yeah, I see her, Bow,” she replied.**

**“Okay. I wanted to make sure it wasn't just me.”**

The two in question looked at each other fondly, laughing lightly.

**Adora just screamed and de-transformed.**

**“What did you do to me?” she demanded.**

**“What do you mean what did** **_'I'_ ** **do to you?” Glimmer yelled back, fighting for the sword.**

**“I didn't know being a princess was** **_contagious_ ** **!”**

Adora covered her face with her hands as Glimmer laughed and bumped shoulders with her.

“Relax, Adora, ‘Horde’ you is kinda funny, y’know?”

“How was I funny?” she groaned.

“You’re just… so clearly not a bad person that it seems ridiculous in retrospect?”

**Adora insisted she didn’t know what happened.**

**“I don't care how she did it. We just have to make sure she never does it again!”**

**Then, they heard a roar from the creature. Bow shrieked and handed Adora the sword. “Do it again! Do it again!”**

“What if she actually was a bad person, you just gave a weapon to the enemy!” Catra protested, “How did we keep losing to you, none of you have any common sense!”

**The three ran, until they came across a large structure. A First Ones ruin.**

**“What's written on this door? It looks like some kind of password,” Adora asked quietly.**

**The two turned to look at their supposed ‘enemy’ with confused expressions.**

**Bow was the first to speak. “You can** **_read_ ** **that?”**

**Adora looked slightly alarmed. “You can't?”**

“ _ God _ , Adora, I love you, but you can be dense sometimes.”

“Hey, no fair!”

**“What's it say?”**

**“Uh, ‘Eternia.’”**

**“Oh,** **_come on_ ** **!”**

Laughter filled the room at Glimmer’s obvious jealousy. The girl smiled bashfully as her ears grew redder.

“Well I don’t hate you  _ now _ ,” she said.

Catra chuckled. “I think nearly everyone here has hated Adora at some point — or, at least, not liked her.”

“You said you were working on your meanness!” Adora complained.

**When the scene changed, they were inside the ruin.**

**“So, Horde soldier, have you always been able to read First Ones' writing?”**

“Wow, the tact you have is  _ mind blowing,  _ Bow,” Mermista teased.

“She was a Horde soldier! It was weird!”

**Glimmer seemed to be getting more angry.**

**“Right…” she said, “you read a word in a language that no one's spoken for a thousand years, and the door just opened into a mysterious ancient ruin.** **_Sure_ ** **.”**

“Sparkles, you were mean, I’m impressed.”

“It was only before Thaymor!” Glimmer exclaimed, then froze up upon her accidental mention of the place. The place that ripped Adora and Catra apart for a good while.

The other princesses shifted uncomfortably. There were unspoken rules when dealing with, or rather,  _ avoiding _ , each other’s trauma. Mermista couldn’t be away from her kingdom for too long. Perfuma couldn’t deal with being restrained. Frosta checked Micah’s neck every time she saw him. Scorpia still hadn’t returned to the Fright Zone, now demolished and repurposed. Glimmer knew this. Adora and Catra? Among the long list, there was  _ ‘Don’t mention Thaymor _ ’.

**“You think I did this on purpose? You think I wanted to be a princess? Princesses are** **_monsters_ ** **,” Adora yelled.**

**“Monsters? You're the monster!”**

“I’m sorry, Glimmer,” Adora said, eyes glued to the screen.

Glimmer took her hand and squeezed it. “I’m sorry too.”

Bow and Catra watched their girlfriends with smiles on their faces. They would be okay.

**“We can't just** **_trust_ ** **her, Bow. Or have you forgotten everything the Horde's done to us? The people we're lost?” Glimmer let out a small sob.**

“Sometimes the people we love come back to us,” Castaspella said fondly, smiling at Micah.

Glimmer looked over with sad eyes. “Not always, though.”

**The focus turned to Bow and Adora.**

**“Hey, so, thanks for saving us from that bug thing back there when you could've escaped instead,” he said with a smile.**

**Adora shifted her feet. “Okay, well I didn't save you. I just wanted to get the sword, okay?”**

**“Are you** **_sure_ ** **it's not because you secretly like us?”**

“Ugh, this is giving me flashbacks to when I joined you guys,” Catra laughed. “You really have always been that welcoming, huh?”

Bow grinned. “Of course! Everyone deserves a second chance.”

**“Thanks for saving us anyway. I'm Bow, by the way.”**

**“Adora.”**

**“‘Adora.’ Ah. Weird name for a Horde soldier,” he said.**

“Is it?” Adora asked, along with her counterpart onscreen. 

“I don’t know, it just seemed too…  _ nice _ ?” he tried to reason. Upon overhearing this, the Horde kids let out a bark of laughter.

**It cut to Glimmer, holding the sword.**

**“For the honor of Grayskull,” she whispered.**

**“What are we doing?”**

**“Nothing!”**

“Ha, ha, I wanted to be a cool muscular lady with a sword, sue me!” Glimmer snapped playfully to the others, who were all grinning, trying to contain their laughter. They failed.

**“What's a First One?” Adora asked.**

**Glimmer smirked meanly. “You've never heard of the First Ones?” she mocked.**

“See, you’re being mean!” Adora grumbled. Glimmer looked down.

“I know, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have treated you like that.”

Adora started, squeezing Glimmer’s hand tighter. “I was kidding, Glim. Don’t worry.”

**Bow explained the First Ones.**

**Adora gazed up at the ceiling. “So, what happened to them?”**

**“No one knows. They just disappeared. The Horde didn't tell you about them?”**

**“Seems like there's a lot the Horde didn't tell me.”**

“Yeah, like the fact that I’m one of them!”

“You’ve been lied to by…  _ everyone _ ,” Frosta said hollowly.

“Yeah.”

**Glimmer used her powers to light up the large room they had found themselves stuck in, after Bow’s protests and Adora’s mocking of the fact that she had to recharge. Illuminated by the pink sparkles, a mosaic of She-Ra glinted.**

**Bow was the first to notice it. “Oh hey! That's you!”**

**Adora studied it, frowning, before shaking her head. “What? That doesn't look anything like me,” she protested.**

**“No, I mean, the other you. The scary one in the cape.”**

“‘The scary one in the cape’?” Adora said skeptically, turning to look at Bow.

**“You can read that inscription, right?” he continued, “What's it say?”**

**Adora gazed up at the figure on the wall. “It says...** **_‘She-Ra_ ** **.’”**

**Suddenly, there was a burst of light, and a hologram appeared. “** **_Greetings, administrator_ ** **,” it said.**

“What the hell?” yelped Lonnie.

**The trio began to ask it questions, only to be acknowledged with a repeated “** **_What is your query?_ ** **”**

**Bow was resigned. “Welp. She's broken,” he sighed.**

**Glimmer stepped in front of him. “She's** **_old_ ** **.” Then, she touched the hologram, and the room turned a deadly shade of red.**

**“** **_Administrator not detected. Lockdown initiated_ ** **.”**

“ _ Glimmer _ !”

“What? How was I supposed to know?”

This seemed to be becoming a theme. It was easy to ridicule people’s actions with retrospect, but they weren’t there when it happened, Adora reminded herself, and they didn’t have to deal with the actual situation. As if reading her mind, Glimmer smiled at her and rolled her eyes.

**Adora started yelling words in hopes of shutting it off, before rounding on Glimmer, telling her they needed She-Ra.**

“Well I was right, she  _ was _ the key to that place,” Adora said.

“For better or for worse,” Catra muttered to herself.

**Glimmer teleported them out of there just before they were crushed by the rubble. The only problem was, they ended up fifty feet in the air. They screamed.**

“Oh my goodness!” exclaimed Perfuma. The other princesses laughed good-naturedly.

“I’m glad I’ve got a hold of my powers now,” Glimmer said.

**Glimmer was asleep in the air, leaving Bow to save them.**

**Once they were safely on the ground, and Glimmer had woken up, she turned to Adora. “Why are you still here?” she asked weakly.**

**“What?”**

**“Bow and I are hardly a crack security team. You could've escaped at any time.** **_Why didn't you_ ** **?”**

“Honestly, I would’ve made a run for it by now,” Catra said. The rest of the Horde kids murmured in agreement.

**“I just-- I wanna figure out what's happening to me, and if I go back to the Fright Zone, then I'll never know. I never knew where I came from or who my family was. Shadow Weaver said it didn't matter who I was before, that-- that I was** **_nothing_ ** **before Hordak took me in. There's always been a part of me that I don't know anything about an-- and all of this, it feels familiar somehow. I don't know how else to explain it.”**

“Fuck Shadow Weaver,” Catra growled, tugging Adora closer towards her.

“Yeah, fuck Shadow Weaver.”

**“Glimmer's mom knows more about First Ones' tech than anyone. She'll know what's going on with you and the sword for sure. So, if you want your questions answered, stick with us?”**

**Then, they were back at the Fright Zone.**

“Speaking of the devil.”

**“For the last time,** **_where_ ** **is Adora?” Shadow Weaver demanded.**

**“For the last time, I don't know. You think I keep her on a leash?” Catra quipped.**

**Shadow Weaver didn’t seem happy with this and turned away. “I know you're lying. You two are close. She would never depart without telling you.”**

**“Then I guess she let us both down, huh?”**

“I would have never.”

“I know you wouldn’t have.”

**“Have it your way. I already know where she is. We've been tracking her.”**

**“Uh, then why did you ask me?” asked Catra, confused.**

**“Because you are going to bring her** **_back_ ** **.”**

“I’m sorry I left you with her,” Adora said. Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Adora, if we keep apologising to each other for everything we’ve ever done to each other, then we’ll never stop. It’s okay, I forgive you.” Adora could tell Catra knew she was also trying to distract her from what was happening on screen. Shadow Weaver hurting her. She found that she didn’t mind the distraction.

**The screen showed Thaymor, thriving and lively.**

**Glimmer turned to Adora, before they were within the eyeline of anyone. “Okay, the jacket comes off,” she said.**

“You couldn’t exactly walk into a rebel village as a Horde soldier, I suppose,” Frosta realised.

**Glimmer made her remove her jacket, draping a cloak over the other girl, who scowled.**

**“I feel ridiculous,” Adora complained.**

**“That’s ‘cause you need something to tie it all together!” said Bow, picking a flower and putting it in her hair.**

**“I don't** **_like_ ** **it!”**

This earned a giggle from Perfuma.

“Aw, but you look so cute!”

“I’m not one for flowers, but I have to agree, you do look cute,” Catra agreed. Adora blushed in response.

**They walked in, where they seemed to be holding a festival, and Adora admitted that she didn’t know what a party was.**

**“What do you guys do on your birthday?” Bow asked, more confused as ever**

**“Huh?”**

**“No** **_birthdays_ ** **?! How is your life this sad?”**

Some of the princesses turned to look at the Horde kids.

“You really didn’t celebrate anything? Not even your birthday?” Frosta asked, wide-eyed.

Kyle shifted in his seat. “Um, we would celebrate if a battle went really well. But only if it went  _ really _ well. I can count the amount of times I’d had food other than ration bars before we left on one hand.”

Adora nodded at this, causing even Mermista to look at the group sympathetically.

**Adora onscreen turned to stare at an animal behind them, and gasped.**

**“What is that?” she asked.**

**“That would be a horse,” replied Bow. The horse neighed.**

**“It's majestic.”**

**Bow paused, smiling. “You wanna go meet it?”**

**“What?** **_No_ ** **!” Adora whined, clearly scared.**

Perfuma burst out laughing.

“You were afraid of a horse?”

“I’d never seen one before! Don’t make fun of me!”

Glimmer and Bow chuckled along with her. “No, it’s just you’re really…  _ adora _ ble,” Bow said.

“Ugh, enough with the name puns!”

Suddenly, it hit Glimmer. “That horse is Swift Wind, isn’t it?”

“Oh  _ wow _ , yeah it is.”

**Leaving Adora with the horse, Bow walked over to check on Glimmer, who seemed less-than-thrilled to see he was fraternising with the ‘enemy’.**

**“** **_Come on_ ** **, I know you like her, too,” he teased. Then, people started screaming, breaking up the peaceful atmosphere.**

“Shit,” cursed Catra.

**“What's going on?” yelled Adora.**

**“It's the Horde!”**

**“Why are they here? The people of Thaymor aren't a threat,” Bow asked.**

**Adora stopped in her tracks. “Did you say** **_Thaymor_ ** **? This can't be Thaymor.”**

“Yeah,” Adora agreed hollowly, “Shit.”

**“No. I mean, yes. But there's a mistake. Thaymor's supposed to be a heavily fortified rebel fortress, not a civilian town!”**

**“Do you really think that matters to them?” Glimmer screamed back at the girl.**

**Adora shook her head in denial. “This is a big mistake. I just need to talk to them. Get as many people out as you can. I'm sorry!”**

**“Adora!”**

Adora wrapped an arm around Catra: a silent apology for what was to come. Catra returned it. Bow and Glimmer glanced at the wearily, and the other Horde kids looked down shamefully.

**Suddenly, Adora dove in front of a tank.**

**“Stop!”**

**And it opened to reveal Catra. “Adora!”**

**“Catra?”**

**“They let me drive a tank. Believe it?”**

**“I don't understand. Why are you here?”**

**“Uh, duh, we came to find you.** **_‘Cover for me, Catra. No one will even know I'm gone._ ** **’ Did you just get immediately captured right after you snuck out--? What are you** **_wearing_ ** **?”**

The princesses laughed at the lighthearted interaction amidst the chaos, but quickly stopped when they saw the looks on the others’ faces.

Castaspella was the one to ask, “What-” But she was cut off by the episode still playing.

**“Uh, Bow!” shouted Glimmer.**

**“Hey!”**

**But now they were back to Catra and Adora.**

**“There's no time. We have to stop this,” the blonde pleaded.**

**The other girl looked confused. “What? Why?”**

**“Look around. This is a civilian town. These aren't insurgents. They're innocent people.”**

**“Yeah, innocent people who kidnapped a Horde officer.”**

“I did have a point there,” Catra said, but it fell flat.

**“Let's get back to the Fright Zone,” she continued, “Shadow Weaver is freaking out-” she paused to laugh- “It'd be funny if she weren't such a terrible person.”**

**Adora just shook her head. “Catra, no. I can't go back. Not until the Horde leaves this town alone. Help me.”**

**“What are you saying?”**

**“I’m saying, this is wrong. They've been** **_lying_ ** **to us,** **_manipulating_ ** **us. Hordak, Shadow Weaver, all of them.” A pause. And then-**

**“** **_Duh_ ** **! Did ya just figure that out? Manipulation is Shadow Weaver's whole thing. She's been messing with our heads since we were kids.”**

“That’s… really depressing,” Mermista sighed. “Sorry you guys had to go through that, shit’s messed up.” Adora smiled at the other princess.

**“It doesn't matter what they do. The two of us look out for each other. And soon we'll be calling the shots. Now, can we go** **_home_ ** **?”**

“I’m sorry,” Adora said.

Instead of brushing it off, Catra curled into her girlfriend. “I’m sorry too.”

**“I'm not going home. Not after everything I've seen. Come with me. You don't have to go back there. We can fix this.”**

**Catra’s eyes grew wide. “Are you** **_kidding_ ** **? You've known these people for, what, a couple hours? And you're just gonna throw everything away for them? Ugh. What happened to you?”**

**“I don't know. But I have to do something. I'm sorry, Catra!”**

“We’re okay now, though. That’s what matters,” said Catra, firmly.

**“Ah! I think that's all of them. What will we do?”**

**Glimmer turned to Bow, and spoke. “There's nothing we can do. You're almost out of arrows and I'm almost out of magic.”**

**Bow, ever the optimist, told her they’d find a way out of this.**

**“Every decision I've made in the past day has almost gotten us** **_killed_ ** **. My mom's right, I'm not ready for this.”**

**The boy shook his head. He couldn’t let her talk about herself like this. “No. You are not giving up now. I’m sorry your mom doesn't see how strong you are. You can do this, Glimmer, and** **_you’re not alone_ ** **.”**

“No wonder you guys got together, you were pining back then!” Sea Hawk exclaimed.

Bow went red. “I was not-”

Glimmer stopped him, smiling. “Yeah, you were. I was, too.”

**“You're right. We need Adora.”**

“Character development,” Double Trouble mused.

**Catra electrocuted Adora. Then immediately apologised.**

**“...Because you** **_left_ ** **me! And if I don't bring you back, Shadow Weaver’s gonna have my head. So, enough with your weird little identity crisis and let's go home. Or do I need to zap you again?”**

Catra sighed. Faintly, she knew that she’d been a bitch after Adora left, but honestly? She’d repressed most of those memories.

**Glimmer, ever the saviour, teleported in, to save Adora.**

**Once they were relatively safe, Adora spoke. “What’re you doing? Why did you save me?”**

**“We need you. We need She-Ra. I should've given this back to you in the ruin. You could've saved us and I knew that. But I was stupid. And a jerk. And I'm sorry!”**

**“You're not a jerk. I'm the Horde soldier. How do you know you can trust me now?”**

**“I don't. But I** **_hope_ ** **I can. I feel like... maybe you're here to help us.”**

“Character development  _ indeed _ .”

“Ugh, shut up, shapeshifter!” Glimmer snapped.

**“For the honor of Grayskull!” And there was She-Ra. And there went the Horde soldiers. One by one, they were torn down, until the ones remaining were forced to retreat. Until only Catra was left.**

**She-Ra’s eyes flickered. “** **_Catra…_ ** **”**

**But the feline had already backed away into the smoke.**

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Adora.”

**“You did it!” Glimmer cried, defusing the tension Adora was radiating.**

**Said girl blinked. “I did?”**

**“You saved us. You saved everyone!”**

“How did it feel?” Lonnie asked. “To be the good guy?”

“Really good.”

**“I did it. I turned against the Horde.** **_I turned against the Horde_ ** **.”**

Laughter rose from the Horde kids, even Hordak.

**“I can't go back now. Where am I supposed to go?”**

**Glimmer calmed the girl. “Hey, hey. It's okay. You're with us now. C’mon, let's go home.”**

“ _ Home _ ,” Adora repeated. She looked at the people surrounding her. Her family. Yeah, she was home.

**“Best-friends squad!”**

Adora, Catra, Glimmer and Bow broke out in smiles. They knew everything was going to turn out okay. The past couldn’t hurt them, no matter how much it tried.


	3. Razz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> !please read!  
> hi everyone, thank you so much for such an enthusiastic response to this fic, it really means a lot. i'm hoping to start updating this fic twice a week, on wednesdays and sundays. this might change, but at the moment that’s my goal, so look for chapters on those days from now on!  
> once again, this is unbeta’d so let me know about any mistakes so i can correct them :)  
> \- flo

**_‘Razz’_ **

“Wait, _Razz_? As in, that weird old lady who lives in the woods?” Bow interrupted. Micah cleared his throat, looking thoroughly confused.

“There’s a weird old lady who lives in the woods…” he started, before trailing off. They’d noticed that he hadn’t been speaking much, but attributed it to his general shock towards the entire situation they were in.

**“Hey, we made it.”**

**“Whoa.”**

**The scene zoomed in on Bright Moon castle, in all its glory. Adora was entranced.**

“Whoa,” muttered Lonnie. Kyle practically had sparkles in his eyes.

**“Okay, I just need to go in there, recharge, and deal with my mom,” Glimmer said, stopping to groan, “This’ll be fun.” Then, she turned to Bow.**

**“Uh, Bow? Maybe we should take Adora in the back way?”**

**The scene quickly changes to Adora and Bow climbing up a cliff.**

“ _Why_?” Catra exclaimed, cackling, while Adora shifted with a concealed grin.

**“** ** _This_ ** **is the back way?” she yelled, on screen.**

**“It might seem weird, but we totally come in this way all the time,” he, clearly, lied. They climbed through Glimmer’s window and Bow rushed into the room.**

**“Oh! Hey, here. Why don’t you put this robe on? No reason.”**

**“You’re trying to hide me,” Adora deadpanned.**

**“What?** **_No_** **!”**

“My, my, you have _got_ to get better at acting, darling,” Double Trouble pondered from their secluded corner. Glimmer had had enough.

“Listen here, shapeshifter, you may have helped us defeat Horde Prime, but that _doesn’t_ erase what you’ve done. You can’t treat us like this: I’m your Queen, and you will respect me as that. We’re willing to cooperate with you, but only if you do the same,” she said, hardly. For once, they didn’t have a comeback. They were silent. Everyone awkwardly turned their attention back to the screen, as Glimmer cooled off in Bow’s arms.

**“Glimmer! Where have you been?” The scene had shifted now, to Glimmer and her mother.**

**“Hey, mom.” She looked defeated. This didn’t seem to bother Angella, however, who immediately rounded on her.**

**“All of Bright Moon has been worried sick. What were you thinking?” As this bickering continued, the voices began to get distorted, and Glimmer collapsed.**

“Glimmer! Are you okay?” Micah asked, distressed. Glimmer nodded and explained the whole ‘recharging’ concept.

“Because we shared the runestone, but _now…_ well, I don’t have to recharge anymore,” she finished.

**“Where did you go, anyway?” Angella asked, at the runestone, with a Glimmer in a much better condition. Glimmer took a deep breath.**

**“Okay. Bow and I found a piece of super powerful First Ones tech in the woods. We knew it would really help the Rebellion, so we went to get it and bring it back. But we got a** **_little_ ** **sidetracked. It was fine, though, and I totally had it under control. And while we were out there, we found something even better!” Her mother didn’t seem impressed.**

**“What did you find?”**

**“I can’t tell you yet. But you’re gonna** **_love_ ** **it. I promise!”**

“Damn, why could you just tell her about She-Ra first? And _then_ mention the Horde stuff?” Mermista suggested.

“Ugh, just wait.”

**Adora was pacing in Glimmer’s room.**

**“Okay, I get it. I’m guessing the people of Bright Moon are gonna be a little less welcoming of a Horde soldier than you led me to believe.”**

**“** ** _Maybe_ ** **a little,” Bow agreed, still holding back. She could tell.**

**“How little?”**

**“Think... pitchforks and torches.” Adora groaned.**

“Well, I couldn’t exactly expect them to just trust me, right off the bat,” she reasoned. Catra frowned.

“Huh. I guess so,” she mumbled. Her girlfriend raised her eyebrows at her; a silent request to elaborate.

“I don’t know, I just… never considered that you struggled to settle in with the Rebellion.”

“Trust me, it got worse before it got better.”

**Suddenly, Glimmer appears, much to Bow’s surprise, as he let out a shriek.**

**“I’m here! Okay, my mom’s on her way, but no one panic.”**

**“What?”**

**“** **_I said no one panic_ ** **!” she shouted.**

A few people chuckled. Though a lot of these snippets were concerning and they knew they’d have to talk about it at some point, it was nice to have these breaks in between where they could see their friends happy and goofing off.

**Onscreen, Glimmer seemed to be explaining the plan, which Bow stopped.**

**“Wait, we’re jumping straight to She-Ra with your mom? Are you sure?” The princess sighed impatiently.**

**“Yeah, I don’t think my mom is going to buy,** **_‘Hey mom, we found a Horde soldier. Can we keep her_** **?’”**

“Hey!” Adora complained half-heartedly. Glimmer just shoved her shoulder.

**“Uh, Glimmer, look. I don’t know if I can just ‘turn on’ She-Ra,” Adora started. She went on to explain how she has no idea how to control it. The other girl brushed it off, claiming that she’d figure it out, and teleported away with Bow. Adora sighed, and made her way outside, for some space.**

**“Right. Okay, sword, it’s just you and me now. So, uh…let’s do this,” she spoke softly, chuckling slightly.**

**“For the honor of Gray—”**

“Oh _wow_ , you really were hopeless at the beginning, huh?” Catra teased. Scorpia shook her head.

“Princess powers are _weird_ at first, especially if you didn’t grow up with them like the others.” Meeting Adora’s eyes, she smiled. Adora smiled back, surprised.

**“Horsey!” Adora yelled, hugging Swift Wind, pre-... Swift Wind.**

“‘Horsey’? _Really_?” Frosta scrutinised. Adora didn’t have any defence, honestly.

**She took a deep breath.**

**“For the honor of Grayskull!” Nothing happened. Adora continued to try, varying her voice, and even swinging it around, before she eventually gave up.**

**“Oh, come** **_on_** **! Glimmer’s counting on me. Don’t leave me hanging here.”**

“Aww!” To which Adora smiled fondly.

“Yeah, yeah, I _care_ about you, we’ve established this.”

“Still though!” Bow chimed in, “It’s sweet.”

**Then, Adora hit the horse with a blast.**

**“Horsey,** **_no_** **!” she yelled, and watched as it transformed into Swift Wind. Panicked, he ran off into a village, and created a gust of wind with his wings that blew Adora’s disguise off, releasing the Horde symbol.**

**“Horde Soldier!”**

**“Go! Get her!”**

**“Don’t let her get away!”**

“You didn’t _once_ hold that against them?” Sea Hawk asked, genuinely curious. She shook her head.

“Not really. I felt guilty, too. Like I was responsible for the Horde’s actions in part.”

“You weren’t,” Hordak spoke up for the first time in a while, “I am the sole person to blame for that… blunder.”

“And a bit of Shadow Weaver,” Catra added.

“And a bit of Shadow Weaver,” he agreed.

**“For the** **_last time_** **, what is this grand surprise that I’m supposed to be so impressed with?”**

Micah chuckled. It was nice seeing his family and how it had changed in his absence. It made him feel less clueless when it came to Glimmer.

**As Bow left, Angella smiled after him.**

**“I like that boy.”**

“At least we’re know that she would approve,” Bow tried wetly, tears forming but never released.

**Just then, a guard appeared.**

**“Your majesty. A horde spy has been discovered on the Bright Moon grounds. She attacked our troops with a sword and then fled with the help of a winged beast.” Angella turned on Glimmer, furious.**

**“What did you** **_do_** **?!”**

“Why did she just assume it was me?”

“Glimmer, let's be honest, when was it not you?”

**The scene changed to the Fright Zone.**

“Here we go,” sighed Catra.

**Lonnie spoke: “I’m telling you. This new princess is no joke. She wiped the floor with our whole recon squad. We were lucky to get out of there alive.” Catra cackled.**

**“Oh, please. She’s like every other princess: all sparkle, no substance. She caught us off-guard. That is all.” Lonnie rolled her eyes.**

**“Sure. You were the only one who saw her up close, and you didn’t even land a hit on her. What? Did you** **_freeze up_** **?”**

“Sorry,” Lonnie muttered. Catra blinked.

“For what? We’re both being just as awful to each other.”

“For what I’m about to say.”

**“** **_Easy_ ** **, Catra. Adora’s not here to protect you anymore.”**

“Oh.”

“Sorry for being such an ass.”

“No,” Catra managed, “I wasn’t the only one hurting when she left, it’s okay, you were grieving.”

**The girl in question was wandering through the Whispering Woods, dejected.**

**“Stupid. You just** **_had_ ** **to go out there, even after Bow** **_warned_ ** **you about the pitchforks and torches.” Then, the stone in Adora’s sword began to glow. She scoffed.**

 **“What do you want from me** **_now_** **? Haven’t I done enough for you?”**

That sentence, that yell of defiance, wasn’t uncommon. But it was probably the first. Tired for being used and never given a choice and being told that it didn’t matter what she wanted. She turned to her girlfriend subtly.

“You wanna talk about it?” Catra whispered. Adora knew that if she said the word, all of this would stop; she and Catra would find somewhere private and she’d pour her heart out. It wasn’t uncommon. Still, she shook her head.

“Not yet.” One day.

**The changing of metal was heard nearby. Adora followed the noise until she found Razz, and her hut.**

**“Oh, Mara, dearie! Is that you? About time you got here. Come on now, there’s no time to waste. Let’s get going.”**

Adora stared at the screen with sad eyes. Only Bow and Catra fully understood what happened to Razz. Bow, because he was there when she realised she was flicking between memories, and Catra because she’s… well, Catra.

**“We made plans to go berry-picking today!” Adora frowned.**

**“Look, I’m sorry, but I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I don’t know who you are,” she explained. Razz halted, slightly, turning to look back at her.**

**“No, you don’t know Madame Razz, do you? You’re not quite the same. This is the wrong time for my Mara, isn’t it? Now** **_you’ve_ ** **got the sword, instead.”**

“Nice and cryptic,” Scorpia mused.

“I _wonder_ if I could find her and analyse her brain patterns. If she knew Mara, she must be over one thousand years old. What could be stabilising her life force?” Entrapta mumbled, mainly to herself, though Wrong Hordak nodded along.

**“Hey, uh, you’ve said something about the sword. Have you seen it before?” Razz laughed.**

**“Don’t ask such silly questions, Mara. You know you bring that sword around here all the time.”**

**“I’m** **_not_** **—Okay.”**

“Aw, she’s so _wholesome_ ,” Perfuma smiled. Scorpia studied her with a stupidly big grin on her face, blushing when Catra caught her with a raised eyebrow.

**The scene panned to reveal a First Ones ruin. Adora commented on this.**

**“And the best place to pick fresh berries!” Razz added, climbing onto the structure. The girl scrambled.**

**“Hey, be careful up there! That thing’s not safe.” Then, a light blasted from the top, causing Razz to fall. Luckily, Adora caught her, as her and the ruins were bathed in an odd green light.**

“What in the _world-_ ” Castaspella began, but the events onscreen caused her to trail off.

**A light flashed from the top of the ruin once more, and stars appeared in the sky.**

**“** **_Stars_ ** **?”**

“It’s funny, we haven’t been able to see them for long, but now I can’t imagine what it would be like without them,” breathed Glimmer.

“It’s like there was something missing, but we didn’t realise because we didn’t know any different,” Bow agreed.

**“Oh, we used to come here to look at the stars. Do you remember, Mara? They’re all gone now. What happened to the stars?”**

“If only she knew.”

**“I’ve** **_seen_ ** **them before. I** **_know_ ** **all of this somehow,” Adora insisted, confused.**

**Brief visions of Adora’s memories flash across the screen. There’s the faint sound of a baby giggling. The visions subsided, and Adora gripped her head.**

Hordak shifted uncomfortably in his seat, reading the girl. He could tell that yet another apology wouldn’t be well-received at that moment, so he stayed quiet.

**“Look, I** **_know_ ** **you brought me here for a reason. If you know something about the sword, about me, you** **_need_ ** **to tell me!” Adora yelled, seemingly having had enough of this dancing around the issue.**

**After a lack of answers from Razz, the scene changed back to the Fright Zone: in the barracks. Catra flopped down onto the bed and glanced over at a drawing of her and Adora on the wall. She grunted and slashed the drawing, sobbing quietly, then looks-down at her pillow before she began shouting and crying hysterically, tearing the pillow to shreds.**

“I’m _never_ leaving you again,” Adora said quietly. The other girl smiled, a single tear finally spilling over.

“I know.”

**“Catra!” Shadow Weaver called, entering the room. She hastily wiped her eyes.**

**“What do you want?” she grumbled, climbing out of bed.**

“Does that woman have no empathy?” Castaspella complained. Micah shook his head, and his sister fell silent.

**“I gave you a simple task: bring back Adora. Instead, your squadron is ravaged, your war machines destroyed, and Adora is still missing.”**

“How is that _your_ fault?” Glimmer exclaimed.

**“News flash, old lady: if Adora wanted to come home, she'd be here right now. Adora's gone. She** **_defected_** **. And I’m starting to think she had the right idea. So maybe it’s** **_you_ ** **who should be showing a little more respect to** **_me_** **.”**

“You tell her Catra!” Kyle cheered, earning a small laugh from her.

**But then,**

**“You will answer to a higher power, Lord Hordak himself.”**

“Oops,” the boy said sheepishly.

**“Wait! Will you** **_slow down_** **?” They were back in the whispering woods, with Adora and Razz.**

 **“Look, I left my whole life behind, looking for answers about where I came from and who I’m supposed to be. The Rebellion hates me, and I can’t go back to the Horde. And I** **_wanna_ ** **do the right thing, but I** **_don’t know_ ** **what that** **_is_** **!”**

“Well, you did, eventually. Do the right thing. Took us all a while to realise what exactly it was, but you did it,” Catra comforted.

“I guess I _did_.”

**Adora and Razz stopped in front of a field full of abandoned Horde war machines. She gasped as Razz turned to her.**

**“Ah, it’s the same old story, dearie. Wicked people destroy what they cannot control.”**

“You’re not wicked, anymore,” Entrapta said to Hordak quietly, “You’ve grown.”

**“Once, the princesses would have protected us. But these days, they—they stay in their castles, protecting only their own lands. Meanwhile, the Horde creeps ever closer.”**

The princesses looked down guiltily, anywhere but Adora and Glimmer.

“It wasn’t… _right_ of us, to abandon the Alliance,” Frosta conceded.

“Blaming yourself for your parents mistakes really isn’t worth it, Frosta. You all made the decision to join, when I asked, and that’s what matters.”

**“You’re very like my Mara, you know? Brave, loyal, but afraid. No one is going to make this easy for you, dearie. Stop** **_waiting_ ** **for someone to tell you what the right thing to do is. You’re a smart girl. What do** **_you_ ** **think?”**

“That was weirdly inspirational, coming from a weird old lady who lives in the woods,” commented Lonnie.

**Scene changes to Swift Wind being tied down by a group of Horde soldiers.**

**“For the honor of Grayskull,” she whispered. And she transformed.**

“ _Yes_! She did it!” Sea Hawk declared proudly, only to shrink back into his seat when Adora shot him a look. Mermista rolled her eyes, smiling fondly.

**She tore open the net restraining Swift Wind, who neighed and flew away. Grunting and shouting could be heard as She-Ra fought the Horde soldiers. Then, Razz entered the fight, hitting a horde soldier with her broom.**

**“Razz,** **_no_** **! You can’t be here!”**

“Bold of you to think you could stop her,” Catra butted in.

**Horde soldiers shouted as they began to close in on Razz and She-Ra.**

**“Razzle Dazzle!” she yelled, throwing down her berries and creates a smokescreen.**

“...What?”

**The scene changed to Adora being awakened by Swift Wind.**

**“Swift Wind and I have been talking while you were asleep. He thanks you for coming to his rescue,” Razz started.**

**“Swift Wind?”**

**“That’s what he prefers to be called. Also, he wanted me to make sure that you know that ‘Horsey’ was a stupid name.”**

“ _See_! The old lady agrees with me!” Frosta proclaimed, satisfied.

**“I need to get back to Bright Moon,” Adora said, “Will I see you again?”**

**“If you need me, you will always know where to find me.”**

“Come to think of it, I haven't run into her in a while,” Adora realised.

“Probably because you’re done with all your back-to-back dilemmas,” Mermista suggested, to which Catra cackled.

**Then, they were back at the Bright Moon castle.**

**“How could you possibly think this was acceptable?!”**

**“Mom, you don’t understand! You’re not listening!”**

**“You’ve shown remarkably poor judgment! Allowing a Horde soldier into Bright Moon without telling me?”**

“She made a valid point. If she wasn’t She-Ra, it would have been a real risk. Well, it _still_ was a risk with all the She-Ra business,” Micah reasoned. Glimmer didn’t have the heart to fight him on this. She was done fighting with her parents.

**A golden light flooded the room as She-Ra entered, and gasps resounded around the room.**

**“I was trying to tell you. Mom, meet—”**

**“** **_She-Ra_ ** **,” Angella finished.**

**She-Ra then transformed into Adora.**

**“She’s a Horde Soldier,” one woman muttered.**

“Risky move, I’ll grant you that,” Hordak mused.

**“I know you have no reason to trust me, Your Majesty. But I’ve seen for myself the** **_atrocities_ ** **the Horde has committed against the people of Etheria, and I’m ready to fight to stop them. If you give me the chance, I know I can help the Rebellion turn the tide of the war.”**

“Ugh, no wonder they couldn’t say no! You’re so… _genuine_ ,” Catra complained dramatically, earning another snort from her girlfriend.

**Angella paused, for a moment, and then spoke:**

**“I know the legend of the warrior the First Ones called She-Ra. They said she would return to us in the hour of our greatest need to bring balance to Etheria. I never thought she was anything more than a myth. And yet you’re here now. And in the uniform of a** **_Horde solider_** **, no less. You would pledge to stand with us against those you once served?”**

“Oddly ceremonial, but okay,” Mermista commented.

**“Yes.”**

**“Glimmer, you would vouch for her and take responsibility for her?” The girl blinked, before agreeing.**

**“Yes.”**

**“Then rise. The Rebellion accepts your allegiance,** **_She-Ra, Princess of Power._** **”**

“I don’t regret that for a second,” Glimmer whispered, in hopes that no one would overhear, but it travelled to Bow and Catra. The girls found that they didn’t mind.

**Glimmer hugged Adora tightly.**

**“Welcome to Bright Moon!”**

**“But for** **_real_ ** **this time,” Bow added.**

“How touching, I bet the next scene is me being sad,” Catra said dryly.

**Sure enough, Shadow Weaver appeared.**

**“Lord Hordak-” she threw Catra onto the ground- “Kneel!”**

“Oh, as luck would have it,” Catra mused. No one else said anything, as they sort of understood that making fun of it was her trying to deal with it.

**“I gave her charge of a simple mission: to return Force Captain Adora to the Fright Zone. Instead, our forces suffered a** **_humiliating_ ** **defeat,” she said smugly.**

 **“Then you mean to tell me that you’re** **_still_ ** **down a Force Captain?” Hordak replied, seemingly unbothered by Catra’s involvement.**

**“Yes, my lord. But rest assured, nothing will stop us from finding Adora and bringing her back.” The man shook his head.**

**“No. You will elect another Force Captain and resume normal operations.”**

“I’m hurt, Hordak, it’s like you don’t even care about me,” Adora joked, and the man rolled his eyes.

**“But, my lord, Adora is the** **_only_ ** **viable candidate.”**

**“You have Catra. Was she not your ward, as well?”**

**“Catra has been nothing but a disappointment to me.”**

**“If you have failed to condition her properly, you have no one but** **_yourself_ ** **to blame.”**

“Do they not realise I’m right there?” Catra questioned skeptically, “Or do they just flat out not care?”

**“But, my lord—” she started, but Hordak seemed tired of her.**

**“Enough. I have made my decision.** **_Rise, Force Captain Catra_** **.”**

The two girls wanted to call to attention the mirroring, with the both being asked to rise. How, at that moment, they were truly and definitively on different sides. But, at the same time, they wanted to bury that thought in the back of their heads and never set foot near it again. 

“Lovely and foreboding, thank you,” Perfuma breathed. Scorpia looked at her in surprise.

“Fuma, was that… _sarcasm_? Can you actually be sarcastic?”

“Oh, look, the next episode is playing, we don’t want to miss anything!” she said hastily. Faintly, she knew that conversation wasn’t over, but she was just feeling a little… frustrated. She was sure it would go away soon.


	4. Flowers For She-Ra

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> unbeta’d - let me know of any mistakes, so i can correct them!  
> \- flo

“Anyway,” Perfuma continued airily, desperate to change the subject, “I wonder what’s next.” Scorpia, still suspicious, just shrugged.

“Maybe now they’ll move onto rebuilding the Princess Alliance? Weren’t you the first princess to rejoin, Fuma?” she decided to reply, letting her apprehension go.

**_‘Flowers For She-Ra’_ **

“Huh, I’m guessing I am in it, ha,” Perfuma mumbled.

**“This is awesome! I can't believe Mom agreed to let you stay in Bright Moon!” Glimmer exclaimed. They passed a few guards whispering on their walk.**

**“I don't trust her…” Adora looked down.**

**“Yeah, awesome.”**

“That’s not nice at all!” Perfuma huffed, “They had no right to treat you like that!”

“I get it though, to them I was just a Horde soldier, they were right to be weary,” Adora reasoned. Glimmer shook her head.

“They were right to be weary, but not to openly discuss it where you clearly knew what they were saying about you, that’s just rude.”

**The Glimmer on screen, however, seemed unbothered.**

**“Okay. You've seen the dining room, throne room, portrait hall. So, the last stop on our grand tour is... your new room! Ta-da!” The girl, who was faintly listening, gasped upon seeing her room.**

**“It's pretty standard…” she started, and listed it’s features.**

**“Is the waterfall for showering?”**

**“Ha! Good one, Adora.”**

“I didn’t realise you weren’t joking!” Glimmer said, reddening, “They’re just decorative, by the way.”

“Well, I know that now.”

**Once they had left, Adora sat on the ridiculous-looking bed.**

**“Okay. This is different than the Fright Zone, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of this in no time.” Then, she fell backwards and got stuck in the bed.**

**“Help.”**

Everyone began to laugh at that, and Adora was only slightly embarrassed.

**Adora seemed to be fighting the bed, before the mattress popped and feathers exploded out.**

**“Glimmer? Glimmer? I think I killed the bed,” she whispered frantically, rushing down the hall. Then, she bumped into Angella, and shrieked.**

**“Ma'am! I mean, Your Majesty. Sir-” she coughed “So, what are you doing up?”**

“How awkward can you get?” Mermista commented boredly.

“Give her a break, it’s a cultural shock going from the Horde to the Rebellion,” Lonnie reasoned quietly, not wanting to upset a princess.

**“When I feel the cares of the day weighing upon me, I come here,” the Queen replied, coldly.**

**“Who is that?” Adora asked, looking up at a mosaic.**

**“King Micah. My husband. He built the Rebellion with me. And he was one of the first casualties of The Horde.”**

**“Sorry. I didn't know.”**

“Angella…” Micah said, pain in his words.

**“Adora. My daughter believes you can help us. Glimmer has vouched for you despite your background. And because I greatly love my daughter, I am willing to give you a chance. Do not disappoint her.”**

“You didn’t tell me about that,” Glimmer mumbled under her breath to the other girl.

“Yeah, I did!”

“Well, just didn’t tell me that that was what she said!”

“I didn’t want to upset you at the time, then… I guess I forgot about it?” Adora supplied. Begrudgingly, Glimmer took this answer.

**The scene changed to Glimmer’s bedroom, where she was sleeping soundly. The princess woke up, yawning slightly, before turning to see a figure in her bed. She screamed, tumbling off her bed, and looked up to see that it was Adora.**

**“Glimmer! Are you okay?” she gasped. The girl just looked confused.**

**“What are you doing in here?” Adora had the decency to look embarrassed.**

**“I'm sorry! I couldn't sleep in my room. I've never slept without any other people around. And then I ran into your mom, I think she doesn't like me.”**

“Aww, you missed me,” Catra teased, bumping shoulders with her girlfriend, who just smiled wide.

“Wasn’t that clear from everything I’ve ever done since leaving the Horde?”

“Fair enough.”

**“What? My mom loves you,” Glimmer insisted.**

**“Yeah, sure. She loves She-Ra.”**

“She loved you, too, Adora,” Glimmer said in a small voice.

“Maybe she did later, but at the start, no one really cared about me, just what I could do,” Adora sighed heavily. The princesses desperately wanted to deny her statement, but couldn’t. Bow, however, shook his head frantically.

“Maybe they did at first, but they changed their minds eventually, and that’s what’s important.”

**“Mom can be... a little intense, heh. But, our weekly meeting with the Rebellion Generals is today and you're invited. She wouldn't have invited you if she didn't like you.”**

“She invited me because I was She-Ra, Glim,” Adora chastised playfully. Glimmer spluttered, at a loss for any argument.

**“Uh, the chairs are still empty,” Adora pointed out when they entered the room.**

**“Those are for the other Etherian Princesses, but... none of them have been active members since I was a kid. The Rebellion had a big defeat years ago, and most of the old Princesses gave up. Now all the kingdoms keep to themselves, and the new Princesses do the same.”**

“Well always be here if you need us,” Frosta said seriously.

**“Other than Spinnerella and Netossa!” Bow exclaimed, waving at them.**

**“Hey, guys!” he called, and turned to whisper to Adora, “We're not really sure what they do.”**

“Dude!” Netossa said, offended. Her wife just chuckled and patted her arm, as Bow cowered slightly.

**Then, Adora sat on Micah’s chair.**

“Oops,” Adora tried, laughing nervously. Micah just laughed louder, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder from behind.

“Do not worry, it was just a mistake, there was no way to know.”

**“I've asked you here because I've received a distress call from Princess Perfuma,” she began, “The Horde is laying siege to her kingdom. She's asking Bright Moon for assistance. General?”**

“Yay! It’s me!” Perfuma realised, brightly.

**“Bright Moon will provide food and humanitarian aid.” Angella finished.**

**“I have a better idea. We can--“**

**“Fight the Horde? Glimmer, you propose this idea every meeting.”**

**“No! I was going to say, let's use aggressive fist-to-face sparkles.”**

**“I said, no, Glimmer. Now sit down!”**

“Huh, you really wanted to get out there and fight, didn’t you, Sparkles,” Catra mused quietly. Maybe they weren’t so different after all. Glimmer turned to her.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Me too,” she admitted quietly.

**Adora raised her hand.**

**“You should send me, Glimmer, and Bow to lead the relief mission.You can send me as She-Ra. I'll make sure everyone gets there safely and protect Bow and Glimmer if the Horde attacks. I promise, I won't disappoint you.” The queen sighed, clearly not liking the idea, but conceded.**

**“Very well. You will deliver food and supplies to Plumeria, and under no circumstances will you engage the Horde. You leave at dawn.”**

“We’re gonna meet you soon, Perfuma!” Bow realised excitedly.

**Suddenly, there was the sharp noise of metal clanging.**

**“I give up! I give up!” Kyle yelled after being knocked down by a bot.**

**“Quit playing around, Kyle! Where's Catra? She's supposed to be here.”**

**“Not anymore, cadet Lonnie.”**

Lonnie laughed.

“I remember this, you were so smug,” she teased. Catra rolled her eyes.

**“They made you Force Captain?” she gasped disbelievingly.**

**“Congrats, Catra!”**

“Kyle is so pure!” Bow smiled, eyes wide. The boy in question blushed, and his partners chuckled.

“He’s not wrong,” Lonnie smirked, and Rogelio growled in agreement.

**The next scene’s focus was still Catra, though there was someone else with her.**

**“What do ya need, Shadow Weaver? Ooh, are you giving me my first mission?”**

**“You will explain how you lost Force Captain Adora.”**

“Ugh, I swear, she was obsessed with you, it was creepy,” Catra groaned.

**“Ugh, I've told you everything I know about Adora!”**

**“I know you're lying. You have to be lying. What happened to Adora? What did you do?”**

**“What did I do? She left us! She left me! You ever think Adora's not as loyal as you thought?”**

“Wow, she was deep in denial,” Adora muttered, surprised.

“Yes! Swear there was something wrong with her. Apart from the obvious, abusing children.” Adora snorted.

**“I will learn the truth, Catra, even if I have to drag it from your-” But she was cut off by a sudden shout of pain and her shadows receded. Catra darted over to help, but Shadow Weaver hit her hand away.**

**“Out of my way!”**

“But, you were actually trying to help her!” Adora said indignantly. Micah seemed tense, though only Castaspella noticed, but sent him a worrying glance all the same. He just shook his head.

**“Wow. Mom didn't say anything about all the plants dying,” Glimmer commented once they had arrived in Plumeria.**

**“I don't think she knows. Wait, where's Adora?” From behind, She-Ra appeared, with the supplies. Glimmer didn’t look amused.**

**“Are you gonna be She-Ra the entire time we're here?”**

**“I told Queen Angella I would. Besides, people like me better as She-Ra.”**

“I don’t,” Catra interrupted bluntly. Adora rolled her eyes, grinning.

“I know you don’t, I got that from the whole trying-to-kill-me thing.”

**“You're here!” A voice broke them from their conversation, and they turned to see Perfuma.**

“Oh yay, there I am!”

**“Oh, my. Everyone, come quick! It's, Oh, it's… It's…” she fumbled with her words as her people gathered around, “Look! The universe has heard our pleas and sent the legendary She-Ra to help us save our home.”**

“Wow, I only just realised how much pressure I had put on you! I’m so sorry, Adora, for the way I behaved, I got a bit overexcited,” Perfuma rambled frantically.

“Perfuma, it’s okay, you only knew me as She-Ra back then, it wasn’t your fault.”

**“Our people have lived here for thousands of years. We're known for our beautiful flowers, our majestic trees. And this is the Heart-Blossom, the center of our kingdom, and the source of all my magical powers.” Bow gazed around skeptically.**

**“At least this tree is fine. What happened to everything else?”**

**“We're going through a little rough patch, but I'm sure the universe will right itself soon.”**

“Yeah, it looks really bad,” Scorpia commented, to which Perfuma sighed, resigned.

“It was, I was definitely underplaying it. The energy that they were taking was exhausting me, I’m not sure we would’ve lasted much longer.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”

**“Everything is dead or dying,” Glimmer pointed out. Perfuma took a deep breath.**

**“Look, the blight hit right after the Horde arrived. We don't know why, and nothing I do stops it. But we don't dwell on the negative. Look at the positive. The Heart-Blossom is still healthy, and the She-Ra is here, and the celebration's about to begin.”**

“You’re, like, tooth-rotting with how sweet you are, ugh,” Mermista muttered, but the other princess heard and giggled.

“I guess I just don’t see the point in letting bad stuff get you down! It doesn’t do anyone any good.”

“Well, you don’t always get a choice in what gets you down,” Catra mumbled, squirming in her seat. Luckily, this time, Perfuma didn’t hear.

**The scene changes back to Shadow Weaver, in the Black Garnet Chamber. She groaned, breathing heavily.**

**“You will not refuse me!”**

“Ah, don’t you love it when a weird shadow lady blocks your connection to your runestone and makes you think that you didn’t even have one to begin with?” Scorpia sighed. None of the princesses were quite sure how to react, but Perfuma glanced at her lovingly.

**Suddenly, Hordak was on her screen.**

**“Shadow Weaver.”**

**“Lord Hordak!”**

**“You have disobeyed my orders.”**

“To be fair, I’m not sure what gave her the idea that she could do it with detection,” Entrapta mused.

“She was blind when it came to her own shortcomings,” Hordak supplied.

**“Explain to me why you've requisitioned more troops to look for one missing soldier. A soldier I ordered you to give up on.”**

**“Finding Adora is crucial to the Horde's mission—” she insisted.**

“Did she know I was She-Ra?” Adora asked suddenly.

**Hordak slammed his armrest, cutting her off.**

**“Our mission is to kill the Whispering Woods so we can march on Bright Moon. Our mission is to destroy the princesses and their ridiculous rebellion. You are distracted, Shadow Weaver. Our ground troops demand your full attention. The siege on Plumeria has carried on for too long. You will give the order to increase power until victory is achieved. And never forget, I gave you your magical power and at my slightest whim. I can take it away. Understand?”**

“Y’know, you were real mean to the Rebellion just now, but, I have to admit, I love seeing you tear down Shadow Weaver like that!” Glimmer admitted. Hordak looked surprised for a moment, before regaining his composure.

**Back in Plumeria, an elder is trying to offer She-Ra food.**

**“No, no, no, it's okay. You need this food more than we do,” she insisted.**

**“Nonsense. It is our honor to serve the She-Ra.” Soon, Perfuma spoke up again.**

**“I'm so happy that after all these centuries of being gone, you've finally returned. I said, break out party kale. And at our hour of greatest need, just like in the stories.”**

“Oh. Yay. Now we get to talk about the legacy I’ve already rejected,” Adora deadpanned, bored.

**“What stories?”**

**“The stories we've been telling for thousands of years. She-Ra, the warrior who tamed the beasts of Beast Island with a single word.”**

“Well actually-” Bow started, but stopped after her saw Adora glaring playful daggers at him.

**“That's nothing. What about the time She-Ra defeated a squad of Horde soldiers on a flying horse? Or the time she saved Thaymor from a legion of Horde soldiers? Or the time she borrowed my toothbrush and used it to defeat an army of Horde soldiers!”**

**“Uh, Bow, that's not true.”**

Laughter bounced around the room, and Bow’s cheeks reddened as he scratched the back of his head.

**“Hey, calm down! Give her some space,” Glimmer said, ushering people away.**

Adora smiled at her best friend.

**“We're so excited for you to heal our land and bring all the plants back to life. Will you be doing it before the drum circle or after?” Perfuma asked innocently. But She-Ra looked taken aback.**

**“You want me to--You want me to heal your land?”**

**“Yes! Like in the ancient story, ‘She-Ra Heals the Forest And Brings The Trees Back To Life.’”**

“Spoiler alert, I had no idea what I was doing,” she joked.

**“Wait, it's not that simple. Plus, I don't like the look of that smoke. The Horde's up to something big. Maybe we should investigate.”**

“Makes sense,” Frosta said, mostly to herself.

**“We?” Perfuma questioned, making a flower in her hand, “This is my power. I grow plants. We're not strong enough to go up against the Horde. All we want is to live peacefully in our ancestral home. We need you, She-Ra.”**

“Hey, you’re strong, Fuma,” Scorpia comforted. Netossa and Spinerella nodded from behind.

“Yeah, you’re crazy powerful, just just hold back without realising,” Netossa agreed.

**“Yes, healing. That is a thing I know how to do. I just need to take Bow and Glimmer over to those trees for a moment. I know what I'm doing!” Then, they were in a secluded area of the woods.**

**“I don't know what I'm doing!”**

Catra cackled, moving impossibly closer to her girlfriend.

“You’re ridiculous,” she mumbled.

“So are you.”

**“But, the stories say you have healing powers,” Bow supplied.**

**“They also say I fought the Mantisaur. I don't even know what that is!”**

**“Why don't you just concentrate really hard? That seems to work whenever you need to transform,” Glimmer suggested. She-Ra tried a few times, but to no avail.**

“Magical healing without sorcery, wow!” Castaspella commented quietly, eyes wide, “Did you ever figure it out?”

“Eh, eventually, definitely took a while, though.”

**“It's okay. You'll get it soon,” said Bow from her side.**

**“Soon isn't good enough! These people expect me to save their land. I thought I was better as She-Ra, but I'm useless no matter what form I take.”**

“You are not useless,” Bow insisted, all of a sudden very serious.

“Yeah, you’re so important to us, and you were such an important part of the Rebellion… how could you think you’re useless?” Glimmer ranted.

“I don’t know, I can’t exactly control how I feel.”

**A sudden explosion brought them back to the screen. Perfuma yelled for them, so they ran back to the village.**

**“The Heart-Blossom is dying. Please, She-Ra, heal our land,” begged Perfuma. She-Ra took a deep breath, and tried. Nothing.**

**“Sorry. I don't know how to heal.” Upon the citizen’s confusion, she continued.**

**“My name is Adora. I was chosen to carry the sword of She-Ra, but... I haven't been doing this for very long, and I don't know exactly how it works yet. I never meant to deceive you. I am She-Ra, I'm just not the same She-Ra.”**

“And that’s okay,” Perfuma told her, meeting her eyes, “You don’t have to be anybody you’re not.”

**Then, there was another explosion.**

**“There might be another way. I know the Horde. I think they're using one of their machines to poison your land. If we wanna save your home, we have to stop them!”**

**“You're not She-Ra from the stories. You were supposed to save us.”**

“That’s a dick move, don’t blame all your problems on her,” Catra complained. 

**“It will be all right, I promise. We will rebuild. We have to believe that the universe will repay the Horde for their evil deeds eventually,” Perfuma said calmly. Glimmer shook her head, frantically. She had had enough.**

**“The universe won't protect you! You want She-Ra to fix everything, but won't even try to save yourselves? At least Adora's trying.”**

**“If She-Ra can't save us, no one can. Right now, we just need to make sure our people are safe. We leave today.”**

“I’m not going to run away anymore,” claimed Perfuma.

“Good.”

**“Are you okay?” Glimmer asked Adora tentatively.**

**“I just wanted to help. But all I've done is disappoint an entire kingdom. I'm sorry I let you guys down after you talked me up.”**

**“We just wanted everyone to see what an awesome person you are. I thought I was being supportive, but I was being terrible!” Bow cried dramatically.**

“I can see why you and Sea Hawk are friends,” Mermista sighed.

“I think it’s cute, how much you care,” Glimmer countered. Her boyfriend blushed adorably at her words.

**“Adora, She-Ra's not the reason we like you. We like you because you're our friend,” Glimmer said. Another explosion. She looked at the other girl.**

**“You have a plan, don't you?”**

**“Yeah. I think I do.”**

“See! You’re more than She-Ra!” Glimmer exclaimed triumphantly.

**They were in a new scene, and the Best Friend Squad were disguised as Horde soldiers. Adora looked around before speaking.**

**“All clear. Okay, we need to find the machine. Every Horde camp is laid out the same. Guard duty's in half-hour shifts, so we walk in when the shift changes in three, two, one.” It was working, until they were spotted by a soldier.**

**“Hey! What are you doing here?” Adora played it off with a scoff.**

**“What are you doing here? We have security clearance, password 5-echo-niner. On your way.”**

**“We haven't used that password in months. Hands up!”**

“Never ask me to go undercover again,” Adora laughed, “I’m not good at it!”

“You always were bad at lying,” Catra agreed.

**An alarm began to wail.**

**“Adora? What do we do?” Bow panicked.**

**“Run!”**

“How do you get yourselves in these situations, Glimmer?” Micah chastised.

**Focus back on Perfuma, she was reading the note Adora left.**

**“‘We've gone to the Horde camp to find the weapon killing your trees. If we don't make it, I wanted to say I'm sorry. I couldn't be the hero you wanted. -Adora.’ She's still trying, even though we were so negative,” Perfuma gasped, before realising something, “Glimmer was right. This is our home, we can't let her do this alone!” She turned to her citizens, before continuing.**

**“Everyone, She-Ra and our friends from Bright Moon are risking their lives to protect us from the Horde. We need to help them! Get the warchimes, we march!”**

“The warchimes?” Scorpia repeated.

“You didn’t have warchimes in the Horde? Gosh, no wonder you lost!” she replied cheerfully. The ex-Horde members were left wondering what exactly warchimes were.

**Back in the fight, they seem to be struggling.**

**“How many soldiers can you take?” asked Adora.**

**Between one and zero,” he admitted. Then Glimmer appeared, looking feral.**

**“I'll take them all, if you give me a minute.”**

“So, nothing’s changed,” Catra summarised.

**A horn wailed in the distance. Perfuma came towards them, plants tearing down the wall.**

**“I've always said the universe will repay the Horde one day. Well, I guess that day is today!” She ran towards them.**

**“I've never been so alive!”**

“The Rebellion was where I was meant to be, I’m glad you convinced me to join.”

**Once the battle was won, Perfuma turned back to the trio.**

**“Thank you so much! You inspired us to save ourselves. How can we ever repay you?” Glimmer stepped forward.**

**“Join the Rebellion, and help me reform the Princess Alliance,” she suggested, but Perfuma looked unsure.**

**“Um, are you sure? Didn't that go horribly the first time?”**

**“It went horribly for our parents. But we have a chance to do it right. We're clearly stronger together. Think what all the Princesses united could do.” The other princess considered this.**

**“Would I get to hit more people with flowers?”**

**“Absolutely,” Glimmer smirked.**

**“You have a deal!” she exclaimed, facing her subjects, “Hey, everyone! Look at us. We're mighty rebels now.”**

“Fuma, you’re just too cute,” Scorpia said, making the girl blush.

**Catra is seen entering the Black Garnet Chamber.**

**“Force Captain Catra reporting for-”**

“Why are your victories immediately followed by me being sad?”

“Suspense?” Spinerella offered.

**“This was brought to me by retreating soldiers, retreating because their camp was attacked by Adora and She-Ra. Pathetic, you're still trying to protect her. Did you think you could keep the truth from me?”**

“My god, stop blaming the poor girl for this out of her control!” Castaspella exclaimed.

**“It's just a phase, she's confused. I'll bring her back in, I swear.”**

**“Oh, yes, you will,” the woman agreed, “Because until I tell you otherwise, that is your mission. And to ensure success, no matter where Adora goes, no matter how long it takes, my shadow spies will find her.”**

“See? Creepy,” Catra insisted.

**Adora walked into her room to find Bow and Glimmer.**

**“What is this?”**

**“Since you've never slept in a room by yourself before, Bow and I thought we'd throw you a sleepover, then you won't feel so alone!” Glimmer exclaimed.**

**“We even got you a new bed,” Bow added. Adora walked over and nervously sat down, before gasping softly.**

**“It's wonderful,” she whispered.**

“That’s so… thoughtful,” Kyle smiled.

“We’re friends, we care about each other. We didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable in her new home.”

**“Thanks, guys. I might not ever be the perfect hero everybody wants me to be, but that's okay.” Glimmer threw a pillow in her face.**

**“Of course it's okay. Do you have any idea how annoying you'd be if you were perfect?” Adora retaliated with the same pillow, until they had practically waged war.**

“Aw, you guys are so cute!” Bow gasped.

“I see why you guys are such good friends,” Lonnie said.

**“Aw! Best Friend Squad is having a pillow fight!”**

**“Yeah, we're not calling ourselves that,” Adora replied, shutting him down.**

**“I prefer ‘The Glimmer Group.’” she joked.**

**“Nah,” Bow denied, “We're the Best Friend Squad.”**

“So that was where it came from!” Catra exclaimed.

“I have to say, I am quite enjoying this,” Micah admitted. There were murmurs of agreement.

“Onto the next episode then? What will it be about?” Frosta asked. Scorpia thought for a moment.

“Well, who was the next to join the Princess Alliance?”

“That would be me,” Mermista realised.


	5. The Sea Gate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> as always, let me know if any mistakes, as this is unbeta'd! i apologise if there are lots, it's just passed midnight in the uk so i've technically not posted in time for myself, but i still wanted to get it up before i went to sleep! i'll proofread it in the morning and hope it's not too bad  
> \- flo

“Wait, so this one’s gonna be about me?” Mermista asked.

**_‘The Sea Gate’_ **

“Huh, guess so,” she answered for herself.

**The scene opened in Bright Moon’s war room, where Angella was speaking.**

**“Council, we’re looking for plans to strengthen our defensive skills against the Horde. Who would like to go first?” Immediately, Glimmer’s hand shot up as she let out a stream of ‘me’s. Her mother sighed.**

**“Who besides Glimmer would like to go first?”**

“I had a good idea! Why did she just assume I was gonna say something ridiculous?” she said.

“I wonder,” Bow deadpanned.

**“Mom- uh, your majesty-”**

“Great start, Glimmer,” Mermista sniggered. The girl she was teasing just turned and stuck her tongue out.

**“You should let me, Bow and Adora continue our princess recruitment mission. If we can form a new Princess Alliance, the Rebellion would actually stand a chance for once.”**

“Do you possess, like, an ounce of tact?” Catra asked, somewhat seriously, “I swear, you’re worse than Entrapta sometimes.”

The princess perked her head up at the mention of her name. “What about me?”

“Your lack of tact, dude,” Scorpia said.

She took it all in good-nature, though. “Ah, yes! People are difficult, you can’t blame me for getting confused.”

**“The princesses withdrew from the last alliance,” Angella reminded her daughter, “They chose to focus on protecting their own lands.”**

“We didn’t! Those were our parents!” Frosta butted in. 

Spinnerella nodded at the girl. “We know, you shouldn’t be held accountable for your parents mistakes.”

**“So, are we just supposed to give up?” Glimmer argued back, before slumping her shoulders, “Please, let me try. All I’m proposing is a diplomatic mission.”**

“Well that’s a shocker, what happened to aggressive fist-to-face sparkles,” Double Trouble murmured. Glimmer raised her eyebrows in their direction, and they quietened.

**“So what do you propose?” her mother asked tiredly.**

“She sounds exhausted with you, Glimmer,” Micah pointed out and laughed.

**Tapping the table, a pink hologram of the coast appeared.**

**“Anyone approaching Bright Moon by sea needs to pass through the Salineas Sea Gate: it’s controlled by Princess Mermista now that her father’s retired. With her on our side, the Rebellion could control the seas.”**

“Wait… that’s an actual good idea, you come up with that yourself, Sparkles?” Catra cackled, and Glimmer reached over Adora to knock the cat to the floor.

“I know I was a lot more impulsive back then, but really, Catra?”

**Angella voiced her concerns, but Glimmer just shook her head.**

**“Don’t worry mom, with She-Ra, we can conquer anything!” she said.**

Adora snorted to herself, remembering what was about to happen.

**“Uh, we’re also gonna need a boat.”**

**“With She-Ra and a boat, we can conquer anything.”**

**“And an experienced sea captain.”**

**“Ugh! With She-Ra, a boat and an experienced sea captain, we can conquer anything!”**

The room erupted with laughter, and Sea Hawk gasped excitedly upon the mention of a sea captain, knowing that it was him.

**“Very well,” Angella conceded, and Glimmer teleported around the room in excitement as she continued to talk.**

“Why do you look so surprised?” Frosta asked.

“Because she never let me go on risky missions! This was a momentous occasion!”

**Then, the Best Friends Squad were seen entering a tavern in Seaworthy.**

**“This is so cool!” Bow gushed.**

“It looks mildly dangerous,” Castaspella pointed out to the boy.

“I know,” he replied. “So cool.”

**“None of these people look qualified enough to sail a ship,” Adora commented skeptically.**

**Glimmer walked towards the bar. “Excuse me?” she asked the lady behind the bar, “Uh, we’re looking for a sea captain to take us to Salineas?”**

**The woman pointed towards a dark corner, where people were arm wrestling.**

“Ooo, look, Mermista! It’s me!” Sea Hawk cried excitedly. Mermista rolled her eyes at her boyfriend, trying to maintain her scowl.

**The crowd dispersed, leaving one man.**

**“Uh, hi. We were told you’re a sea captain?” Glimmer asked.**

**“I am the one and only Sea Hawk. Has my reputation preceded me?”**

“Oh, god, get a cap on your ego, no one likes it,” Mermista complained.

**“Your name is Sea Hawk? That’s the coolest name I’ve ever heard!”**

“You totally had a crush on Sea Hawk when we first met him,” Glimmer said giddily. Laughing, she turned to look at her boyfriend, who was getting redder by the second.

“Hah, no-” he choked out, burning his face in his hands. Sea Hawk, overhearing this conversation, looked awe-struck.

“Great, you’ve inflated his ego even more, great going, Bow,” Mermista grumbled.

“You’re not… at all bothered that I used to like him?” Bow asked the two girls.

“Not really? He’s with me, you’re with Glimmer, nothing’s gonna happen.”

“And even if it did, you’d come to us first and we’d talk about it!” Glimmer finished. Bow stared at her. She’d gotten a lot less prone to jealousy and a lot more secure in her relationships after they had started dating.

“I love you.”

**“Captain Sea Hawk, we’re interviewing potential captains to take us to Salineas. Would you like to apply for the position?” Glimmer said, cutting off Bow’s gushing.**

**The man laughed in response. “Apply for the position?” he repeated, “I am the one and only Sea Hawk! I’m offer-only.”**

“Ugh,” Mermista groaned to herself.

“Aw, you know you love me, dearest,” Sea Hawk chided. Mermista averted her eyes, fighting a smile.

**“Okay, just because ‘sea’ is in your name, it doesn’t tell us anything about your actual qualifications,” Adora said.**

**“‘Qualifications’? I once ran the fifty-klick Galebreath Gauntlet in less than twenty klicks,” he bragged, “I manoeuvred the Serpentine with nary a chip in the paint of my bow! My shanties are considered so desirable, that sirens fling themselves into the sea at the sound of them!”**

“Do you ever stop stroking your own ego?” Adora teased.

“I think he sounds cool!”

“Thank you, Princess Scorpia,” he said indignantly. Scorpia blushed at her title, as she always did.

**Bow gasped at the man.**

**“And because I can tell you’re wondering, my mustache is naturally shiny.”**

**“It is shiny,” Bow agreed, starry-eyed, “You’re hired- ow!” Glimmer elbowed him sharply in the ribs, stalking past him.**

“Do I sense a little jealousy?” Catra asked.

**“What makes you think you can afford me?” he asked.**

**“I assure you, Captain Sea Hawk, money is no object.”**

**He handed Glimmer a note. Her eyes widened.**

**“Money might be an object.”**

“Well, Bright Moon isn’t made of money!” Glimmer said.

**“You won’t find another soul who knows the treacherous route to Salineas as well as I do. I brave it often to visit my close, personal friend, Princess Mermista.”**

“You did not just use me to trick them into hiring you,” Mermista gaped.

“Trick them? I simply told them a few valid reasons why they should hire me! One of which being you.”

**“Okay. Well, here’s the deal. We go one round, winner takes all. You win, we leave you alone. I win, you take us to Salineas: at no cost,” Adora proposed, holding her arm out in a challenge.**

“Mermista, dear, don’t watch this part!” Sea Hawk yelled, holding a hand over her eyes. 

Sending him a glare, Mermista pushed said hand back towards him. “What, do you not want me to watch you get destroyed by Adora? Try again.”

**“That’s a terrible deal,” he remarked. “But I am undefeated at arm wrestling. Let me show you how it’s done, lassie!”**

“Did you just call me ‘lassie’?” Adora quirked one eyebrow up, turning her head to Sea Hawk.

**They began to arm wrestle.**

**“Go, Adora! Put him in the dirt!” Bow cheered.**

**“This is so dumb,” Glimmer muttered.**

**After a few seconds of struggling, Adora forced his arm onto the table, winning the fight. Sea Hawk looked down for a moment, surprised and hurt, before regaining his composure.**

**“Well, truth be told, I let you win, so as to, ahem, boost your confidence.”**

“Aw, did she hurt your pride?” Catra mocked, and Adora sent her a look halfway between contempt and joy.

**The focus panned upwards, revealing a dark shadow that promptly moved.**

“Shadow Weaver,” Adora muttered.

**The scene then changed to the Fight Zone, with Shadow Weaver and Catra.**

**“Adora is in Seaworthy,” Shadow Weaver said. “I’ll give you one more chance to bring her back.”**

**Catra raised her eyebrow skeptically. “Uh, didn’t Hordak just order you to stop going after Adora?”**

**“And who is going to tell him? You?”**

“She couldn’t follow a simple order. No wonder I had to lock her up eventually,” Hordak whispered.

**“I’ll bring her back.”**

**“Not so fast,” Shadow Weaver said, in an almost sing-song voice, “You won’t be going alone. You’ll be joined by Force Captain Scorpia.”**

“Wait, me? Oh yeah, I forgot I met you on this mission!” Scorpia remarked cheerfully. Catra couldn’t help but smile.

**“Kitty!”**

**“Huh?”**

**“Just so you know, I’m a hugger,” Scorpia said, picking up the smaller girl into her arms.**

**Catra fought her way out, panicked. “Is this some kind of joke?” she demanded.**

“Sparks fly,” Lonnie commented sarcastically.

**Soon, Catra and Scorpia found their way onto the boat, and the former seemed less-than-thrilled with her situation. Oblivious, Scorpia rambled on.**

**“Oh, I just love boats, don’t you? Wind in your hair, ocean on every side! Miles and miles from the nearest dry land, water death awaiting at the slightest mishap: man, that’s what I call living.”**

“You know, for whatever reason, I don’t think that’s really helping,” Netossa said.

**“Yeah, I’m really gonna need you to shut up.”**

“See?”

**Then, Catra was picked up again.**

**“Put me down!” she shrieked, “What is wrong with you?”**

Catra sent an apologetic look towards Scorpia, who accepted it warmly.

**On screen, Kyle, Lonnie and Rogelio stared at Catra, who was making a commotion.**

**“What are you looking at?” she demanded.**

Catra opened her mouth, only to be cut off.

“If you say sorry one more time, I’ll hit you,” threatened Lonnie. Rogelio nodded. Catra gulped and sank back down.

**Shifting the focus to Sea Hawk and the others, Sea Hawk was bragging about his boat, which he revealed to be his third. Adora asked what happened to the first two.**

**“Tragically, they went down in flames.”**

**“How did that happen?”**

**“I set them on fire.”**

“Oh my god,” Mermista sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

**“Are we sure about this guy?” Adora asked Glimmer.**

**“He just needs to get us there,” Glimmer responded tiredly.**

“That's my eternal mood towards Sea Hawk,” Frosta said.

**One by one, the Best Friend Squad, completed different boat tasks, much to Sea Hawk’s surprise.**

**“What do you even need old Sea Hawk for?”**

**“Your map?”**

“Oh, I’m enjoying this,” Mermista sniggered.

**“I’m as excited to see my dearest Mermista as I know she is to see me,” Sea Hawk sighed dramatically.**

“Think again,” his girlfriend said.

**“Ohhhh-”**

“Don’t tell me he’s gonna sing-”

**_“I’m Sea Hawk, I am, I am, if you’re looking for adventure then I am your man. If you want to ride on the waves of deepest blue, through perilous winds, then I got you. Some say I’m a hero, some say I’m a man - what I know for sure is: I’m Sea Hawk, I am, I am!”_ **

“I never want to hear a shanty ever again.”

**They seemed to be approaching a ship graveyard.**

**“Something’s wrong,” Glimmer said. “According to the map, we’re way off course.”**

“Don’t tell me-” began Mermista.

“I just thought-”

“What did he do?” Perfuma asked. 

Mermista looked livid. “He made them go there, for an ‘adventure’ or whatever, and I told him to stop! You can’t keep purposefully sailing into dangerous waters just so you have a story to tell.”

**Sea Hawk admitted as such in the scene, just as a sea serpent revealed itself.**

**“For the honor of Grayskull!” Adora yelled, running towards the serpent and jumping off the boat: into the ocean.**

**“Is that a normal thing she does?”**

**“Yeah.”**

Another wave of laughter seized the room.

**“Let me get this straight,” Glimmer began, while She-Ra continued to fight the creature, “you steered us into a giant sea serpent so you could, what, show off?”**

**“That was the plan before your tall friend there stole my thunder!” he retorted.**

**“Unbelievable! We’re trying to save Etheria and all you care about is whether or not we’re impressed by you? I need this mission to go right or my mom will never give me another one!”**

“I’m sure she would have forgiven and given you another chance, Glimmer,” Micah said.

Glimmer laughed bitterly. “At that point? No, one slight mishap and she’d lock me in the castle until the sun went away.”

**“You’ve wasted enough of our time.”**

**Adora emerged from the water.**

**“Adora, get on the boat!” shouted Glimmer sharply.**

“I was very slowly losing it,” Glimmer giggled.

**It cut to the Horde ship.**

**“Why have we stopped?”**

**“The Sea Gate is blocking our path,” Kyle said. “There’s no way past, Force Captain Catra.”**

**“What?” She jumped onto Kyle, taking his binoculars and pushing him to the ground. Sure enough, the Salineas Sea Gate stood in their way.**

**“Oh, Shadow Weaver didn’t bother to mention that there was a massive gate blocking the way to Salineas?”**

“You know what I’m gonna say-”

“Scorpia. Don’t.”

“The other me is gonna say it anywa-”

“Scorpia!”

**“Wait, didn’t you learn about the Salineas Sea Gate in Force Captain Orientation?” Scorpia asked, on screen.**

**“There’s a Force Captain Orientation?”**

“I feel like that’s something you should know, Catra.”

**“All hands on deck! We’re finding a way through that gate!”**

**“Ooh, impressive captain yell.”**

“Yeah, well Shadow Weaver seemed fixated on making things just that little bit more difficult for me, so, I’ll bet she didn’t tell me on purpose.”

**The other crew had made their way to Salineas, and looked around the empty kingdom.**

**“Where is everyone?”**

**“Hm, very odd indeed. If I know the Princess Mermista, and I-I do, something’s amiss.”**

“See, that’s suspicious,” Glimmer said.

**“Halt! Halt, I say!” A voice yelled, and a figure ran down a staircase to meet with them. He took a second, panting.**

**“What’s your business in Salineas?” he finally said.**

**“We’ve come to see Princess Mermista-”**

**“Tell her Sea Hawk is with them. She’ll be excited to see me.”**

“Don’t know where you got that idea from.”

**It immediately changed to the throne room.**

**“Ew, who let him back in here?” Mermista complained.**

**“Princess!” Sea Hawk cried, kneeling, “Oh, it’s been too long! I’ve dreamed of you, night and day, since we parted.”**

**“Uh-Huh, and who are you?” The princess dodged him to see the others.**

“Tough luck, dude,” Netossa said sympathetically, patting him on the arm.

**“My name is Glimmer of Bright Moon. We’ve never met, but our parents fought in the Rebellion together.”**

**“Oh, yeah, I remember hearing about the old Princess Alliance. My dad said it was a total disaster.”**

“It’s not like he was wrong. Ours worked out… well, though,” Mermista admitted.

**“I didn’t think it was possible, but your beauty grows greater with each passing day!” interrupted Sea Hawk.**

**“Will you quit it?”**

“Never, dearest.”

**“I’m a little understaffed right now. Everybody fled because the gate is falling apart or whatever,” Mermista said to Bow, “It figures I’d inherit a kingdom that’s crumbling, but it’s totally fine. I’m handling it. It’s just kind of inconvenient because the Horde won’t stop attacking us.”**

“And you had to deal with that all on your own? Practically everyone had left.” Spinerella shook her head disbelievingly.

“Yeah, I mean, I guess it was scary. I don’t think we would’ve held out for much longer, then who knows what would’ve happened to me? Probably would’ve been captured by the Horde, and then…” Mermista trailed off.

“I’m glad we came.”

**“Why is the gate falling apart?”**

**“I mean, who knows? But it’s getting weaker every day, and if the Horde tries to attack us again, we’re pretty much dead.”**

“There we go.”

**“The Horde is the reason we’re here! We want to rebuild the Princess Alliance. None of us stand a chance on our own, but we might be able to stop them together.”**

**Mermista chuckled. “Sure, because that went so great the first time. Why should I help Bright Moon? It’s not like they’ve ever done anything to help us.”**

“You’ve done a lot for us. I’m glad I joined the Alliance, Glimmer,” Mermista said softly.

**“Mermista, if I may,” Sea Hawk interrupted, warming up for another song.**

**“No, no more shanties! Why did you bring him here? He is so annoying!”**

**“I thought you said she liked you,” said Bow, confused.**

**“We have a rich and complicated past.”**

“You don’t say? Tell me everything!” Castaspella insisted, much to Micah and Glimmer’s annoyance. She could never stay in her own lane.

**“If by that you mean you got us kicked out of the Dolphin Social for challenging the doorman to a duel, then sure,” Mermista responded boredly, as Sea Hawk found himself on her lap.**

**“I don’t recall doing that,” he claimed.**

**“And that time you set our gondola on fire in the Tunnel of Love!” Mermista threw him off her, so that he landed on the floor. He chuckled nervously.**

**“That I do recall.”**

“Your relationship is so weird,” Catra said.

“You’re one to talk,” the princess shot back.

**Adora turned to look at one of the walls. “This is First Ones’ writing,” she realised.**

**“And who is she again? What is she doing?”**

“Well how was I supposed to know she was She-Ra?” Mermista’s face turned pink.

**“What does it say?” asked Glimmer, running over towards her.**

**“Uh, it’s something about the gate. The First Ones must have built it. It looks like the gate gets its power from the Salinean runestone. It could be that the gate is failing because it’s losing its connection to the power source.”**

**“Do you think you can fix it?”**

**Adora looked doubtful, and shrugged. “I can try.”**

“Uh, have faith in yourself, idiot,” Catra groaned, and Adora wasn’t sure if she should take it as a compliment or insult. Either way, she didn’t really mind.

**Glimmer rounded on the other princess.**

**“Look, Mermista. You need our help and we need yours. If Adora can repair your gate, will you consider joining us? Please?” she asked.**

**The princess moaned. “I don’t know, I guess?”**

“Who let you rule a kingdom?” Frosta asked seriously.

**“But he has to leave.” Mermista pointed at Sea Hawk.**

**“But where am I supposed to go?”**

**Bow patted him on the back comfortingly. “Maybe wait with the boat, okay, buddy? We’ll take care of the gate.”**

“Hey, that’s not fair on Sea Hawk, he’s just-” Kyle began, but cut himself off when he saw everyone’s gaze lock on him, “I mean… I… Uhm…”

**“I really hope you know what you’re doing,” said Mermista once they had reached the centre of the gate, standing on a floating rock.**

**“Uh… yeah totally,” Adora chuckled. “I got this.” She raised her sword.**

**_“For the honor of Grayskull!”_ **

“Very reassuring,” breathed Catra.

**Mermista seemed very taken aback. “Wow. Okay. That’s different.”**

**She-Ra pointed her sword at the gate and closed her eyes. A beam of glowing blue light emerged from the tip, hitting the centre as it began to spread outwards. Then, Bow startled her, and the glow abruptly stopped.**

**“Don’t distract me, this is a lot harder than it looks,” she gasped, restarting the process.**

“Oh, I remember this,” Catra said softly, frowning, “I may… distract you, a bit.”

“A bit?” Adora repeated, knowing exactly what she was referencing.

**Glimmer caught Sea Hawk trying to leave out of the corner of her eye, and reluctantly teleported down.**

**“Where are you going?”**

**He yelped. “I’d really appreciate it if you’d stop doing that!”**

**“Are you leaving without us?” she countered.**

“Why didn’t I notice that this was happening?”

**“It’s for the best, I’m only getting in your way. It’s time for old Sea Hawk to be where he belongs, alone,” he sighed, “It wasn’t always like this. Where I’m from, I had friends, a crew, every day an adventure more daring than the last. The fact that I kept setting my boats on fire was considered charming! But here, I can’t even get anyone to take me seriously.”**

**Glimmer walked to meet him. “Yeah, I know a little about that.”**

“Glimmer, were you… really made to feel like that?” Micah asked carefully.

“Yeah, I mean, Mom was great, don’t get me wrong: she loved and cared for me more than I’d ever deserved, but she could be overbearing. After what happened to you… well, she wanted to keep me safe, so any ideas I was a part of, she didn’t even consider. That is, until Adora showed up. I don’t blame her, but,” she started to mumble, “It still hurt.”

**“Glitter-”**

**“Glimmer.”**

**“We’ve just met, but I can tell you are a brave and powerful soul. Anyone who’d underestimate you would live to sorely regret it.”**

“That’s actually kind of sweet,” Frosta said.

“It seems the arrow boy and the mermaid have the same taste: insecure, obnoxious, impulsive-”

“Not a good time, DT,” Scorpia advised, and they trailed off dejectedly.

**As if on cue, the Horde ships reared around the corner, catching their attention. They fired a pulse of electricity straight onto the gate, damaging it. Catra looked far too pleased with herself, until she noticed She-Ra.**

**“Keep us going, full speed,” she said, “I’ve got something more important to do.”**

“Why can I already sense this won’t end well?” Perfuma asked nervously.

**Bow and Mermista tried to keep them busy, as She-Ra focused on repairing the damage. The archer shot Kyle, nothing harmful, and turned to Lonnie. Mermista launched a stream of water that knocked both cadets into the ocean. Scorpia then tossed Bow to the side, but, before he hit anything, he was caught by Sea Hawk.**

Murmured, embarrassed apologies came from the ex-Horde members, and Glimmer quietly teased Bow about his past crush.

**Once they met Glimmer and Mermista on Sea Hawk’s boat, Glimmer revealed she had a plan.**

**“Sea Hawk, I need your help. I need you to do what you do best.”**

**“What?” he responded, off-guard.**

**“Set. Your. Ship. On. Fire.”**

“Oh my god.”

“Please no.”

“Glimmer, you may be my favourite.”

“Oh really?”

**The focus came back onto She-Ra, who froze when she heard a familiar cackle.**

**“Wow. You know, the tiara actually gets stupider the more I look at it.”**

“Hey! I’ll have you know I like my tiara!”

“Yeah, I do too, I was just mad, Adora.”

**“Did you think it would be that easy to escape the Horde? I mean, I knew you were dumb, but come on.”**

“Are you balanced on her sword?” Scorpia asked incredulously. Catra hid her face in her hands.

**Catra continued to taunt Adora, rile her up, distract her. Then, she slumped her shoulders. “Come on, Adora, hasn’t this gone on long enough?”**

**The other girl’s eyes widened, and then hardened. “I told you before, Catra, I’m not going back.”**

**In retaliation, Catra scratched her, eventually punching her in the gut so she’d double over.**

“Sorry for beating you up,” she muttered lamely.

“I beat you up too, later, so we’re even,” Adora said.

**“This is what you left me for? Dress-up games and a light show? And your new best friends are nowhere to be seen. When did you get so weak?” But just as she finished, a spiral of water pushed her off the platform, away from She-Ra.**

**“Thanks,” She-Ra panted.**

**Mermista blushed. “Yeah, whatever, don’t mention it.”**

“Seems like Bow’s not the only one with a little crush.”

“Ugh, She-Ra’s pretty, okay? And, like, eight-feet tall.”

**Sea Hawk’s laugh could be heard, as his boat sailed towards the Horde ship, and he and Glimmer teleported away, screaming ‘adventure’. The wooden structure burst into flames, ramming into the Horde vessel and sinking it.**

“Dude! We were on that ship, y’know?” Lonnie grumbled.

**She-Ra took a deep breath, restarting the process for the last time. The blue light shone out of her sword, and the damages to the gate reversed themselves. Catra watched Adora, as she was being pulled away by Scorpia.**

Adora shot her an apologetic glance.

**“Huh, what do you know, you actually fixed it,” Mermista commented, impressed.**

**“It’s beautiful.”**

**The girl then turned to Sea Hawk. “I guess you’re gonna be needing a new ship. Ugh, I suppose you can have one of mine.” Sea Hawk gasped.**

**“Don’t set it on fire,” Mermista warned.**

**“No promises!”**

Adora Glimmer, Bow laughed fondly, and even Mermista let out a chuckle.

**“Okay, I’m in,” Mermista said suddenly.**

**“Really?” Glimmer replied, not quite believing what she was hearing.**

**“Yeah. The Horde almost destroyed my home, I wanna help fight them.”**

“I am deeply sorry for the damages done to Salineas in the later months,” Hordak said, gaze fixed on the princess, “Nothing can excuse my actions.”

“You’re right, nothing can,” she agreed, but then softened, “But an apology is a good start towards forgiveness, I guess.”

**“Plus, your friend over there can turn into an eight-foot tall lady with a sword, and I want her on my side.”**

“You want a little more than-” Sea Hawk started, but Mermista slapped a hand over his mouth.

“We get it! I think She-Ra is hot, can we please move on? Who joined the Alliance next?” she said, but looked at the screen to see the episode wasn't quite finished.

**_“The best friend squad on the seas, we subdued the threat, the threat with ease. We sail the world, come near or far, we're best friends, we are, we are. We're best friends, we are, we are!”_ **

“I believe I joined the Princess Alliance after Mermista,” Entrapta said.

“I wonder if the next one is about you, then?” Wrong Hordak mused.


	6. System Failure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thank you all so much for your overwhelming support of this fic i love reading every single comment ! i'm also pleased to announce that this work now has a beta ! yay ! thank u sm Somariel <3  
> \- flo

“Ooh I do hope this one is about me!” Entrapta said excitedly.

**_‘System Failure’_ **

“Well that’s promising.”

**The scene opened on Dryl, inside the castle, where the staff were rushing about to prepare food. Every slight movement and noise made them jump.**

“Hey, I remember those guys! I convinced them to join the Rebellion, remember?” Bow exclaimed.

“ **Oh, buttered biscuits, I’ll never get used to these things,” one of them complained, upon the appearance of a robot, who took the food from them and rolled away.**

**“At least I don’t have to get lost in that maze of hers anymore.”**

**The robot made its way to Entrapta, who brightened upon seeing food.**

“Ah, look, it’s me!” the princess cried, “I wonder how this was all recorded, come to think of it. There surely weren’t any filming devices that could have captured this moment so how does this so-called ‘Mara’ have access to this memory?”

“Magic?” Glimmer tried.

Adora shook her head. “I don’t think so. Remember how Light Hope was able to tap into memories so you could watch them? Maybe it’s like that, only, instead of the memory playing out around us, it’s on this screen.”

“Yeah, maybe… but then, how would Mara be able to do that?” replied Bow.

The girl scrunched her eyebrows together, before shrugging. “Magic?”

**“Log, day 103. 104? No, definitely 103. First Ones artifact number 58 has yielded a treasure trove of intact code. If I can successfully translate it, it could hold the secrets to the First Ones!” Entrapta continued to speak enthusiastically into her recorder, not noticing the artifact in question turning red, and branching out in vine-like shapes. Then, her screens all flashed red, and a pulse was sent out of the castle, triggering the alarm. All her robots began to crowd around her.**

“Entrapta, what happened?” Hordak asked frantically, jolting his head to look at her.

“Well, First Ones tech does not initially react well with ours, I discovered.”

**“Fascinating. My robots seem to be responding to the code. This is remarkable! Could this be my biggest step yet towards making ancient and modern technology truly compatible?” she babbled, but shouted in alarm as a robot approached her, wielding something that looked extremely heavy.**

**“Edit to log,” she said, “I am now going to run.”**

A few laughed quietly at the line, and Hordak shuffled closer to Entrapta, wanting to make sure she was okay.

**The next scene cut to Adora, Bow and Glimmer, who were walking along a cliff pathway.**

**“Princess Entrapta will be a total catch for the Rebellion,” Glimmer said excitedly, “My mom is gonna be so impressed!”**

**“I’m all for impressing Angella but why is Entrapta so important?” Adora asked.**

**“She’s a brilliant inventor,” Bow gushed, “She makes robots and rehabs old tech left by the First Ones. She’s a pretty big deal in the Etherian Makers Community.”**

**The girls paused, so he continued. “Because I dabble in gadgetry myself.”**

“You’re a part of the Etherian Makers Community? I love them! They’re all so dedicated to the pursuit of science,” Entrapta said.

**“What does any of this mean?” Adora whispered.**

**“It means that if we convince Entrapta to join the Rebellion, she’ll invent all sorts of cool junk for us, and then we’ll finally have weapons that can stand up to the Horde’s,” Glimmer explained.**

**Then, Bow began explaining all of his trick arrows. “And here’s my newest one, sonic arrow!”**

“Wow! How did you make it emit sound waves, it’s such a small container! Tell me everything!” Entrapta ordered excitedly, and Bow blushed, happy that somebody was taking an interest in his inventions.

**Glimmer laughed. “When will we ever need a sonic arrow? If we have to, like, wake up really early?”**

**“Or if we get separated in a crowd?” Adora added.**

**They walked off, laughing to themselves.**

**“‘Separated in a crowd’,” he mocked, “I bet Entrapta will like my arrows.”**

“I do! They’re fascinating!”

“Something tells me that you’ll definitely need the sonic arrow later,” Catra commented. Both Adora and Glimmer made embarrassed noises and looked anywhere but at Catra and Bow.

**They found themselves facing a pile of rocks blocking the pathway, and Bow explained that it must have been a rock slide.**

**“Any loud sound could cause another slide,” he warned, but Adora yelled, transformed, yelled again and cleared the rocks away, making as many loud sounds as she possibly could.**

“Adora,” Bow complained, “Come on, dude.”

**“I spent my whole life without powers, no way am I gonna stop using them now,” She-Ra explained to Bow, but quickly stopped at the sudden lightning.**

**“Something’s wrong, the castle’s distress beacon is lit. They must be under attack,” Glimmer told the other two. The girls ran inside, She-Ra unknowingly triggering a booby trap.**

“How could you not notice that you were nearly impaled by spikes?” Bow shrieked.

“I don’t know! I was in a hurry to get to Glimmer!”

**They looked around a barren courtyard.**

**“This place feels wrong,” She-Ra muttered.**

**From the shadows, a figure shut a door, making the princesses jump.**

**“Okay, we need to be careful!” Bow called, panting, “Entrapta has traps set up all over her castle.”**

“Sorry about that, by the way,” said Entrapta sheepishly.

**A loud thudding started, and began to get closer and closer. A small creature yelled for them to get out of the square, and disappeared, so they ran to find a place to hide, but were cornered by robots.**

“And sorry about that,” the princess added, just as sheepish.

**She-Ra noticed a door, but before she could open it, the floor opened up, dropping her and Glimmer.**

**“Glimmer! Adora!” Bow shouted, before being dragged away by a pair of hands.**

“That got way too real way too fast,” Mermista said, eyes wide.

**The princesses had found themselves in a cage.**

**Glimmer gasped. “Bow! He’s all alone with those things, he needs us!”**

**She tries to teleport them both back, but keeps on ending up in the wrong place. Eventually, she groans and gives up, finding themselves in a hallway. They heard a clanging, and saw a silhouette.**

**“Princesses, I’m saved!” the silhouette said, as she stepped into the light to reveal it was Entrapta.**

“Woah, you look scary with that mask on,” Scorpia gawked.

**“... Princess Entrapta? I mean, so good to see you! I hope you don’t mind, but we sort of let ourselves in,” Glimmer rambled. The girl didn’t seem bothered by this, though.**

**“Welcome to Dryl! Things are usually really fun around here, but right now it’s all a teensy bit deadly.”**

“‘A teensy bit deadly’?” Catra repeated.

**“Please keep your voice down, sir, the robots respond to sound,” a man said as the scene changed to Bow.**

**“We’re just trying to help you.”**

**The archer blinked. “Oh, thanks. What’s going on? Why are the robots attacking people?”**

**We don’t know!” a small woman with blue hair replied, “We’re just the kitchen staff.”**

**“Miniature cupcake?” the larger woman offered, “Princess Entrapta only eats tiny food.”**

**“And delicious fizzy beverages,” the man added.**

**“Uh… thank you?”**

“Aw they’re so nice and kind! Protecting you and sharing their resources even when they don’t know you,” Perfuma noticed.

**“We need to do something,” Bow whispered to the staff, “You can’t just hide in here forever!”**

**“Oh yes we can! We don’t have powers like the princesses. We can’t fight.”**

“Hey! No powers gang!” Bow said excitedly.

Catra rolled her eyes. “Sure, Arrow.”

“I would like to be a part of this gang, too!” Sea Hawk chimed in.

“Oh god, I’m changing my mind before Kyle and Lonnie say they’re joining this made up club, too,” Catra groaned.

**Bow’s tracked pad made a sound. Then, a metallic clanging was heard from the door, and he drew back an arrow.**

“Oh dear.”

**Focus shifted to the princesses, who were following Entrapta.**

**“You’re lucky I found you. I designed the castle as a labyrinth, I’m the only one who can navigate it.” Immediately, she bumped into the wall.**

“Very reassuring,” Frosta remarked.

**“I think we passed this picture already,” Glimmer said, and Entrapta looked around them.**

**“You might be right,” she admitted, “I usually have my electronic map to get around, but, well, like my bots, it’s sort of evil right now.”**

“Y’know, in most of these memories, you’ve been fighting against the Horde, but in this one, it’s literally just Entrapta’s experiments,” said Lonnie, confused.

“Well, her bots are scary on their own, never mind when they’re being controlled by a murder virus,” Kyle mumbled.

**“Uh, yeah, about that-”**

**“Why did you invent murder robots?” She-Ra interrupted bluntly.**

**Entrapta’s eyes widened, as if she was just noticing the other princess. Maybe she was. “Hello! I like your sword. It’s First Ones tech. Can I touch it?”**

**“Uh, thank you, yes, and no, not right now.”**

“I’m sorry I didn’t understand that social cue, Adora,” Entrapta muttered. It took her aback: the princess was rarely this reserved.

“Oh, um, it’s okay, Entrapta. You don’t have to apologise when you don’t understand something.”

**Entrapta explained how the robots became evil, accidentally summoning one in the process. As it turned the corner towards them, the girls rushed frantically in the other direction. It got stuck, and roared, causing She-Ra to fall to the floor.**

“Woah, what's it doing to you?” Catra fretted.

“It’s powered by that disk thing that infects me and makes me act all weird. I guess I was sensing it? I don’t know if that’s a First Ones thing or a She-Ra thing, though,” Adora summarised.

**“Make it stop!”**

**“Make what stop?”**

“Just so you know, that freaked me out, Adora,” Glimmer complained to the blonde, who smiled bashfully and had the decency to look sorry.

**Entrapta began to climb on top of the robot. “Bot 329 Is attempting to communicate,” she said into her recorder. Suddenly, the bot broke free, and moved, trapping the girl’s hair inside it. She-Ra stood, grabbing her sword so that she could stop the bot. She stabbed the red core, which broke out into more of those red vines, which travelled up her sword and into the runestone. Her eyes had turned red.**

“Oh no,” Adora moaned, “I don’t remember anything past this.”

“You don’t?” Catra responded.

“Nah, I don’t remember what happens when I’m infected.”

“Oh.”

**Glimmer wrestled the sword out of She-Ra’s hand, who transformed back into Adora.**

“I can’t wait for you to see Drunk Adora!” Glimmer sniggered.

“‘Drunk Adora’?”

“Well, you kind of act drunk when you’re infected.”

**The scene shifted back to Bow and the kitchen staff, who were struggling against the robots.**

**“Now!” Bow exclaimed, and one of them opened the door keeping them at bay. He tripped one bot up, so that it slid into the fireplace. Another was shot in the face. Then he ran out of arrows. The final bot crept towards them, until the blue-haired woman hit it in the face.**

“Woah!”

**“I… did that? Hey, I did that!”**

“No powers gang?” Bow asked Catra, with pouting lips and sad eyes that he’d started weaponizing when Adora told him they could never say no to him when he pulled that face.

Catra sighed. “No powers gang.”

**Back in the hallway with the princesses, Glimmer was cradling Adora in her arms.**

**“Please, wake up.”**

“Sorry I worried you,” Adora mumbled, turning to Glimmer, who smiled.

“It’s okay, it’s not like you could help it.”

**Back onscreen, Entrapta was suggesting different theories and methods to find out what was wrong.**

**“First, you’re not taking her apart, she is a person!” she said, in response to one of her more ridiculous ideas, “Second, if we destroy this disc, will that turn off the bots and stop the virus?”**

**“Destroy it?” Entrapta questioned, “The experiment isn’t complete!”**

**“I think we can safely say this experiment is a failure!”**

“Still, your dedication is admirable,” Hordak said.

**Adora began to wake up.**

“Oh, yes,” Glimmer squealed.

“Oh, no.”

**“Glimmer!” she slurred, “There’s two of you! That’s nice.”**

“You really don’t remember this at all?” Catra asked again, doubtful.

“No!”

**“How are you feeling?” Glimmer said softly.**

**“Just peachy,” she assured, then lowered her voice, “Why are we whispering?”**

**“Sound activates the robots.”**

**Adora’s volume picked up again. “What robots?”**

**“The ones that are attacking us!” she whispered frantically.**

**“Oh, those robots. Okay I’m gonna take a nap now.”**

“Oh, wow, I’m going to cherish this memory forever,” Catra claimed, cackling.

**Glimmer sighed, and turned back to Entrapta.**

**“Come on, we’ve got to get to your lab. She’s getting worse.”**

**So they set off, walking backwards and forwards around the maze of a castle, until Entrapta broke the frustrated silence.**

**“Oh, we’re here! I mean, of course we’re here, we were never lost.”**

A few chuckled at her words.

**Entrapta tried to open the door, but was electrocuted.**

**“Wow, the door is infected, too! It won’t let us in. That is so smart. And awful. We’re all gonna die.”**

“Dude, you gotta start delivering bad news like that in a cheerful voice,” Scorpia advised the other princess.

**“It’s okay, I’ve got this one. I’ll just teleport into the lab.”**

“Something tells me it won’t be that simple.”

**Sure enough, Glimmer teleports back quickly.**

**“That was not such a great plan,” she admitted, “The lab is very full of robots. I couldn’t get anywhere near the disc.”**

“Oh, would you look at that, I was right.”

**It cut back to Bow, who had just encountered another bot, who pushed him up against the wall. In a panic, the blue-haired woman yelled and threw a plate at its head, decapitating it. Then Bow gets a signal from Glimmer.**

**“I know where they are! We have to save them.”**

**They shake their heads frantically. “Uh, no, sir. No, thank you.”**

**“Look, they’re princesses, they have powers.”**

**“Sure,” Bow agreed, “We don’t have powers like the princesses. But that never stopped me and it doesn’t have to stop you.”**

“Yeah, if I’m being honest, you’re a much better fighter than me, Bow,” Glimmer admitted.

**“You say you’re just ordinary people? I say you’re warriors of the Rebellion!”**

**There was a pause. And then, “To the Rebellion!”**

“Ugh, you’d been hanging out with Sea Hawk too much,” Mermista groaned.

**Focus shifted back to the princesses , who were trying to hide from the robots.**

**“Incredible development,” Entrapta panted into her recorder as they ran, “The bots seem to be working together.”**

**“Right now, I think that’s a bad thing! We need to find another way into the lab.”**

**“The air duct!”**

“It was still an experiment,” Entrapta complained. Glimmer looked like she was going to send back a scathing remark, but simmered back down.

**Entrapta grabbed both girls and pulled them closer as they were surrounded. Just then, a puff of smoke engulfed them. Bow and the kitchen staff appeared, taking down all the bots once by one, the staff all using different items they had on hand.**

**“Hi,” Adora said, still slurring her words.**

**“You okay, Adora?”**

**“Uh, yeah, sure, I’m totally…” she trailed off.**

**Glimmer took over. “Entrapta was experimenting with First Ones tech, and it infected all her machines with some kind of virus, and She-Ra’s sword got infected, and made Adora all… weird. I teleported into the lab, but it’s full of bots. Maybe with She-Ra we’d have a chance, but without her it’s hopeless.”**

“In conclusion, I cannot function without Bow,” she supplied.

**Bow shook his head. “We don’t need She-Ra, we can do this together.” Soon, Entrapta was climbing through the vents and into her lab, with Bow, Glimmer, Adora and the staff.**

**“Okay,” the archer began, “Where’s the disc?”**

**He followed her gaze to it: protected by those red vines.**

**“How fascinating. It has completely protected itself.”**

“This is very unsafe!” Perfuma protested.

**Adora suddenly shouted to get their attention, waking the bots. Glimmer quickly teleported them out of the way, but now the two were stuck. The staff went to help them, whilst Bow and Entrapta hurried towards the disc. The vines were immovable.**

**“How do we shut the computer down?” Bow asked.**

**“Ha! The power conduit!” she exclaimed and the two ran to unplug it. The vines began to pulse, and the bots all started to close in on them.**

“Glimmer, you didn’t tell me you were always in this much danger!” Micah scolded.

**“It’s running on its own power now,” Entrapta realised.**

**“Wait, I have an idea.”**

**Entrapta pulled them away, while Bow shot his only sonic arrow straight into the middle of the disc. The bots circled around it, and began to tear it apart, shutting off the power and stopping the infection.**

Whoops and shouts rang from the princesses.

**Adora’s eyes glowed red again, and she gasped.**

**“Where am I? What’s happening?”**

“See, told you I don’t remember anything!”

**“Thanks, former tall one and companions for saving my life,” Entrapta interrupted, “I would be honoured to join your Rebellion and provide you with weapons.”**

**Bow then turned to the staff. “The Rebellion needs regular people now more than ever.”**

**“We are ready,” they assured him.**

“No powers gang!” Sea Hawk declared dramatically. Catra groaned, hiding her face in her hands.

“What have I done?”

**Once the Best Friends Squad were outside, Glimmer turned to Bow.**

**“So, maybe you had a point before.”**

**“What, I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you.”**

“Seriously?”

“Yes.”

**“I think what Glimmer is trying to say is that you were right. We can’t always rely on our powers,” Adora admitted.**

**“Oh, is that what you were trying to say, Glimmer? That I was right?”**

“Do you really have to rub it in, though?”

“Yes.”

**“Yes,” Glimmer sighed.**

**“And that my sonic arrow was a good idea?”**

**“Yes, it was brilliant, and you were totally right, okay?”**

“Aw, you think I’m brilliant,” Bow teased.

“Babe, we’re dating.”

**“If you hadn’t come, the bots wouldn’t have gotten us. And I didn’t know She-Ra could get sick like that. What if it happens again?” Adora fretted.**

**“It won’t,” Bow insisted, “We destroyed that evil, She-Ra-hating disc.”**

**“Good, I never wanna feel that way again.”**

“Oops,” Entrapta tried.

**“Log. Day 105. 104? Eh. The last experiment hit a few bumps, but it was not a total failure. I made some important discoveries. The disc is way more powerful than I ever imagined. With a few adjustments, I’m sure the next experiment will be a success.” She was seen piecing the disc back together.**

“Come on, dude!”

“No, it’s okay, guys,” Adora said, “There was no way to know what would happen in the future.”


	7. In the Shadows of Mystacor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> beta: Somariel  
> \- flo

**_‘In the Shadows of Mystacor.’_ **

“Wait, is this when I first met Adora?” Castaspella interrupted.

“Yeah, I think so, Aunt Casta.”

**The episode opened on the Whispering Woods, where Adora, Bow and Glimmer were sleeping on the forest floor. The blonde was tossing and turning, until a familiar whisper was heard.**

**“Adora.”**

**She woke up with a start, and immediately wandered off.**

“Shadow Weaver,” Catra muttered menacingly, digging her nails into her palms, which Adora noticed, and placed her own hand on top of her girlfriend’s.

**It skipped to Bow waking, with a yawn and a stretch, and then waking up Glimmer.**

**“Ugh, it’s too early. Five more minutes,” she pleaded tiredly.**

**“But it’s a beautiful morning!”**

**“Today’s cancelled.”**

Micah and Castaspella both let out surprised laughs at the princess’ bluntness.

**Bow gazed at Glimmer, in what was undeniably a loving way, until he noticed Adora standing at the edge of the clearing.**

**“Adora?” he called.**

**Glimmer groaned, teleporting towards the other girl with Bow.**

**“...What are we looking at?” the boy questioned.**

**“I don’t know, I heard a voice in the woods last night,” she admitted “I thought I saw something.”**

“Oh, don’t tell me-” Lonnie started.

“Yep,” Adora said, cutting her off, “Shadow Weaver.”

“Hey, spoilers!” Mermista complained.

**“What, like a bunny?” Glimmer joked, “Maybe a butterfly?”**

**Adora didn’t reply, so Glimmer dropped the teasing.**

**“Adora-” the girl in question gasped when she touched her arm- “Did you get any sleep at all?”**

**“Someone has to stand guard,” she insisted.**

“Adora…” Catra mumbled into her girlfriend’s neck. She didn’t respond, so she didn’t push.

**“You’ve got to relax,” Glimmer said, “You need a vacation, which is why we’re going to Mystacor!”**

**Bow gasped excitedly. “Mystacor? No way!”**

**“Wait, what’s Mystacor?”**

**“It’s a secret floating kingdom that’s home to all of Etheria’s sorcerers. It’s got tranquil gardens, beautiful beaches and healing springs! And my Aunt Casta just happens to be head sorceress there,” Glimmer explained.**

“Ooo, yay, I’ll be in it soon!” Castaspella said.

**“Plus, you won’t have to worry about evil things in the woods: Mystacor is protected by an invisibility spell, so evil can’t find it!” Bow added.**

“Hm, I wonder if this place is similar,” Micah mused.

His sister turned to face him. “What do you mean?”

“Well, as Bow said, Mystacor is protected by an invisibility spell, so no-one can enter or exit without knowing how to counteract it. Perhaps that’s why we can’t see any exits. We must have got her somehow, so maybe they’re just hidden from view,” he said.

“Invisible,” Castaspella whispered.

**“It’s the safest and most peaceful place in all of Etheria. We’ll have you relaxing in no time!”**

**“You know, I’ve never relaxed in my life.”**

“You said that like it was a brag, and I just want to make sure that you and all the ex-Horde members know that it’s definitely not,” Bow said, eyebrows creased in worry.

**As the Best Friend Squad walked away, a shadow creature shifted into view.**

“Well that’s ominous,” Mermista commented.

**The next moment, they were looking into the Black Garnet Chamber. Catra had just entered.**

**“Shadow Weaver, you wanted to see me?”**

**The sorceress turned, the gem in her forehead shining with power.**

**“Ah, Force Captain, how kind of you to join me.”**

**“What’s up with you?” Catra asked bluntly, “You’re being spookier than usual.”**

Adora snorted.

**“My shadow spies have found Adora. She’s on her way to Mystacor with her friends now,” the woman sighed, “Mystacor. This is going to be too easy.”**

“I do not like her,” Micah muttered.

“Believe me, none of us do,” Catra agreed.

**“Ugh, another Adora mission. Fine, when do I leave?”**

“It’s almost as if you don’t want to see me,” Adora said, feigning hurt, “But I know that can’t be the case because, oh, what was it you said? Something along the lines of ‘I’ve always loved you’?”

“Shut up, Adora!” she shrieked, blushing furiously.

**“The only place you’re headed is outside my door to stand guard. I’m going to use my magic to go after Adora myself. You will see that I am not disturbed. Clearly, no one else can be trusted to bring her back to the Horde.”**

“Yeah, because I'm not stupid enough to let them,” Adora said, as if this was obvious.

**“Now go.”**

**Catra didn't move.**

**“I said go!” she growled, and Catra gasped and ran. Turning back, she saw Shadow Weaver raise her arms, channelling the Black Garnet’s power. Shadows raised from her hands, as she commanded them to go after Adora.**

Scorpia shifted uncomfortably, eyes downcast, while Catra let out an involuntary shudder. Noticing this, Adora wrapped her arms tighter around the feline.

**Shifting focus onto Adora, the trio found themselves at the edge of a cliff.**

**“We're here!” Glimmer announced.**

**“Uh, were on a cliff. Overlooking a thousand foot drop,” she pointed out.**

**“Yes, we are. But not for long.” Glimmer and Bow took a running jump off the ledge, leaving Adora to think they'd just gotten themselves killed. Then, they rose up, on a section of land, which Adora jumped on to.**

“Just an idea, maybe don't jump off a cliff with no explanation as to why?” Adora suggested.

**A shadow spy was seen just below making the jump, too. Adora gasped.**

**“I thought I saw- I'm just stressed.”**

“This just goes to show that I should never listen to Glimmer and Bow.”

“Adora, they are the only ones who can actually stop you from jumping into danger every time you see it,” Catra said.

“Yeah, but-”

“No way am I the voice of reason,” Glimmer gasped dramatically.

Catra rounded on her. “No, that's Bow.”

“Hey!”

**Once they reached Mystacor, Castaspella greeted them.**

**“Is that my Glimmer?” she called enthusiastically.**

“Look, there I am!”

**The sorceress immediately hugged her niece.**

**“And who's this?” Castaspella asked, turning to the blonde.**

**“This is my friend Adora! She's also sometimes an eight-foot-tall warrior named She-Ra.”**

“Well, that's one way to explain it,” Frosta said.

**“How nice Glimmer has finally started making some new friends! We were all so pleased when she started bringing Bow around, I was sure she had made him up at first.”**

Several people throughout the room chuckled at that, save for Glimmer, who had her head held in her hands, and Castaspella, who has the decency to look apologetic.

**Then, the sorceress began to fret over Glimmer not wearing her sweater.**

“Okay, okay, I may have been overdoing it slightly,” she conceded, to Glimmer’s stares and Micah’s hearty laughter.

**“So, what brings you all the way out here to visit your aunt?”**

**“We're on a diplomatic mission, Auntie, I'm rebuilding the Princess Alliance-”**

**“My goodness, then you must be starving!”**

“I don’t think that was the point she was trying to make, Casta,” Micah said.

**“Nothing would make me happier than to give my niece and her friends a tour!”**

**“Uh… Bow and I have had the tour before,” she tried, “And we don’t want to get in your way.”**

**“It's alright, Glimmer. Adora hasn’t seen it. It’ll be fun,” Bow assured, and the princess shot him a glare.**

**“Well then I guess it’s up to Adora. What do you say, my dear?”**

**“Uh… sure?”**

**Castaspella grinned. “Oh, I like her.”**

“Glimmer, you could’ve just said that you didn’t want to!” Castaspella exclaimed.

“I didn’t want to hurt your feelings!”

**Castaspella showed them the Lunar Lenses, which, she explained, powered their defences, keeping them shielded from the outside world.**

**“You will be coming to the eclipse ceremony tonight, won’t you?” she added.**

**Glimmer spewed a few excuses, but her aunt was having none of it.**

**“We really wanted to show Adora the beach,” Glimmer explained.**

**“Well, if the beach is the only reason you’re here, I really shouldn’t keep you, should I? I certainly don’t want to waste your time.”**

“There! That guilt trip! That’s why I don’t tell you!” Glimmer stressed.

“I… didn’t realise what I was doing, to be quite honest.”

**Adora looks into one of the lenses, seeing a shadow spy behind her. She gasps and turns around, but it’s already gone. She runs after it.**

“Just a thought, maybe don’t run off with no explanation as to why?” Glimmer joked, echoing Adora’s previous remark.

“Okay, okay, so just communicate with each other?”

“Sounds like a deal.”

**The other three caught up to Adora, and Castaspella began to tell them about the Hall of Sorcerers. They reached a familiar statue.**

**“This is Micah,” Castaspella said, “My brother. We trained in these very halls together. Glimmer looks just like him, you know.”**

**“He had a beard.”**

“Well, he does!”

“I totally get what she means, though, you guys look so similar!” Bow argued.

**“Wait, Glimmer’s dad was your brother?” Adora asked, upon this realisation.**

**Bow lowered his voice comically. “Adora, do you know what aunt means?”**

**“No,” she admitted, “I was just hoping someone would explain eventually.”**

“How do you not know what aunt means?” Frosta questioned, confused.

“The Horde wasn’t exactly big on families,” Adora said.

“Yeah, most of us were orphans or taken from our parents,” Catra added.

“I personally sought the information on all the living member’s familial statuses after we disbanded,” Hordak provided.

“Yep! Catra was sold to the Horde, her parents have been dead for a while, though,” Kyle began, “Rogelio was a Horde legacy, Lonnie was taken, she has a mom, no one knows what’s up with Adora’s family, since apparently they’re First Ones? And my parents were killed when I was taken.”

“You said all that way too cheerily, read the room, babe,” Lonnie mumbled, smiling softly. Rogelio growled in agreement, snuggling closer to the boy.

“That’s… a lot,” Frosta breathed, at a bit of a loss, “I’m glad to know I’m not the only one without parents, though,” she finished, her voice getting smaller with every word. Kyle grinned.

**“Auntie, we’re going to avenge my dad and make sure that the Horde never hurts anyone else. Mom believes it, and in She-Ra.”**

**“Well, if your mother believes, who am I not to? She’s an angelic being, after all, I’m just a common sorceress.”**

**“Ugh, please, not this again,” Glimmer complained.**

**“She never writes to me, you know,” she ranted, “I send letters, but do I ever get a reply?”**

“I’m sorry I spoke badly of Angella.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s just, I thought we’d be there for each other after we thought you died, but she kept drifting away, and I was frustrated because I needed her to be there for me, too.”

**They passed a darkened statue.**

**“What happened to her?” Adora asked.**

**“Light Spinner. A scar on Mystacor’s past. She sought power and complete control above all else, and she was cast out.”**

“Yep, sounds about right,” Catra agreed.

**The shadow reappeared for a split second after only Adora remained, and disappeared as soon as Glimmer and Bow returned, excitedly talking about the beach.**

**“You okay?” Bow asked the girl, who looked terrified.**

**“It’s worse than we thought,” Glimmer stated, “You need warm sand and calming waves, stat.”**

“I thought I was going crazy, honestly,” Adora said to Glimmer, who nodded slightly.

“So did we.”

**Transitioning from Mystacor to the Black Garner Chamber, Shadow Weaver’s voice could be heard.**

**“It’s time for something more.”**

**The shadow creature grew.**

“Foreboding, thank you for that,” Glimmer mumbled.

**Now on the beach, the three friends were laying on their towels.**

**“So, we just, like, lie here?” Adora questioned.**

**“Absolutely! Letting your cares melt away.” she confirmed, “Didn’t you do something to relax in the Horde?”**

**“Uh, no, we hit things.”**

The ex-Horde members laughed.

“She’s not wrong,” Lonnie said.

**It went silent, and Adora clearly did not like that. She started to mimic bird noises in boredom, which slowly turned into just noises.**

**“This isn’t working for you, is it?” Glimmer guessed, “Clearly, we’re going to have to take this relaxation thing to the next level. Bow, wake up!”**

**Bow, who had apparently fallen asleep, woke with a start.**

**“Come on, we need to show Adora the steam grotto!”**

“What the hell is the ‘steam grotto’?” Catra snickered.

**Immediately, they found themselves there, and all got into one of the small pools. Adora finally found herself peacefully drifting off. When she woke, dark clouds surrounded her, and Shadow Weaver’s menacing voice could be heard. She jumped out of the pool, waking Glimmer. Adora grabbed her sword and swung it at the cloud, but Glimmer walked towards her and it disappeared.**

“Okay, I do see why I look insane,” Adora said reluctantly.

**“Shadow Weaver’s here! I saw her!”**

**“Adora!” Bow stopped her, “There’s no one else here.”**

**“Shadow Weaver was here, in the grotto. She was in the Sorcerer’s Hall, too. I saw her shadow on her floor,” she insisted.**

**“Who is Shadow Weaver?” Glimmer asked softly, one hand on the girl’s shoulder.**

**“Shadow Weaver raised me in the Horde.”**

“And she obviously did such a good job,” Catra remarked.

“Top tier parenting,” Adora agreed, sarcastically.

**“She taught me how to read, tie my boots, and how to subvert the enemy and be victorious in battle.”**

**“Okay, sure, mom stuff.”**

**“No, Commanding Officer stuff. And mom stuff.”**

**“Adora, she’s not here,” Glimmer said carefully, “She was never here, it’s not possible.”**

Adora opened her mouth to say something, but Glimmer sent her a glare, and she backed down.

**“But you don’t know what she’s capable of!” Adora said.**

**“Sounds like this Shadow Weaver really did a number on you growing up,” Bow comforted.**

“That’s an understatement,” Adora snorted.

**“But you’re okay now, you got away from her.”**

Catra shuffled in her seat.

**Adora asked them to give her a little time to clear her head, which they reluctantly agreed on. They left, and Adora began to hear them whispering.**

**“Adora has finally lost it!” Glimmer whispered urgently, “Did you see her in there? I think she’s going nuts.”**

**“I’m not crazy!” Adora yelled, walking towards the voice, but there was no one there, “I’m-I’m not crazy.”**

“You weren’t crazy,” Glimmer agreed, “You were right.”

**Adora found herself staring at Light Spinner’s statue again.**

**“Pull it together, Adora. There’s no way Shadow Weaver can be here.”**

**Then the shadow attacked her.**

“You were saying?”

**It knocked her to the ground, and she quickly transformed. She-Ra looked around, before Catra’s voice echoed down the hall.**

**“Hey, Adora.”**

“You didn’t tell me about this,” the girl in question said quietly.

“I didn’t think it was important?”

“If it’s about Shadow Weaver using me to manipulate you, then it’s important.”

**Catra’s voice continued to taunt her.**

**“Did Shadow Weaver send you?”**

**“What do you think?” the voice mocked, “Shadow Weaver controls us both, she always has.”**

“We can talk about this later,” Adora insisted.

“No, we can talk about this now.”

“Okay, fine, Shadow Weaver scared me. How could she not, after how she raised us, what she did to us? I was scared that I’d never be able to escape her, happy?”

Catra gazed at her girlfriend, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. “No, I’m not.”

“We can talk about this later,” Adora repeated, weaker this time, as she sank into Catra’s arms.

**She-Ra ran into the Lunar Lenses room, and she heard Hordak laughing.**

**“The Horde had high hopes for you, Force Captain. Disappointing. Does the Rebellion truly think you can save them? Nothing can stop the Horde, least of all you. You will lead them all, every Etherian, to their complete and utter annihilation. Nothing will be left of Bright Moon but smoking ruins. Your new friends buried beneath.”**

“I do not recall this,” Hordak stated.

“I believe Shadow Weaver was creating these false visions,” Entrapta whispered to him.

“Ah, I see.”

**She-Ra blindly blasted her sword in panic, smashing some of the Lunar Lenses. Castaspella ran in and gasped.**

**“What have you done?” she shrieked.**

**“Sorry. I didn’t mean- I thought I saw-”**

**Glimmer and Bow ran into the room, and Castaspella rounded on her niece.**

**Your friend has destroyed a thousand years worth of sacred writings. She could’ve destroyed the lenses that protect Mystacor!”**

**“She didn’t mean to!” Bow defended.**

“I'm so sorry I blew up in your face Adora, I should have let you explain yourself, instead I just lashed out.”

**“The Horde isn’t here Adora,” Bow emphasised, “You need to sleep, promise me you’ll try.”**

**“Okay, I’ll try,” she sighed.**

**In her guest room, she lay on the bed, tossing and turning, until Glimmer entered.**

**“Glimmer, look, I’m really sorry-”**

**“Save it, Adora. How could you do this? I thought you were supposed to be our friend.”**

**“I am your friend.”**

**“You’ve ruined everything I’ve worked for. What kind of friend does that?”**

“Sparkles, what the-” Catra started, but stopped herself abruptly, turning to Adora, “Oh.”

“What is it?” Perfuma asked, curious.

“That’s not Glimmer.”

**“Glimmer-” Adora pleaded.**

**“You know what? Maybe you should just go.”**

**And, sure enough, as soon as the girl left the room, she turned into a shadow.**

“Oh my,” Perfuma gasped.

**Back in the Lunar Lenses room, Castaspella was casting a spell.**

**“Is Adora coming?” Glimmer whispered to Bow.**

**“I didn’t wanna wake her up, she needs to sleep.”**

**Light was reflecting from one lense to another, and the sorceress raised her hands ready to complete it, until shadows exploded out of her basin, cutting off the light.**

“You know, I really don’t like being proven wrong,” Glimmer grumbled.

**Outside, Adora saw lights flicker out.**

**“Adora!” Bow called, “Come on, we have to get out of here now!”**

**“What’s happening?” she asked, running after him.**

**“The protection spell is failing, we need to go!”**

**“Wait, stop, where’s Glimmer?” She moved to touch his shoulder, but her hands passed straight through.**

“No,” Castaspella gasped, getting deeply invested in this memory despite the fact that she was actually a part of it.

**“Everything that’s about to happen is your fault, Adora. You’re to blame.”**

**The shadow transformed back into itself, and disappeared. She heard crashing back in the building, and rushed towards it.**

“You’re not to blame, Adora,” Bow said sincerely.

“Thanks, Bow.”

**In the Lunar Lenses room, Adora saw everybody passed out on the floor. In the centre the shadow took the form of its master.**

**“Adora,” Shadow Weaver said.**

**She ran to her friends, but was cut off by the darkness. The sorceress cackled, and placed her hand on the girl's cheek.**

Catra growled, tightening her grip on Adora.

**“The eclipse is nearly over, Adora. When it is, the shield will be down. The Horde will conquer Mystacor and bring you home to me.”**

**“No,” she cried, “I’ll stop you!”**

**A hand was placed on her shoulder and she flinched back.**

**“Why? To help these people? Who are they to you? They don’t understand you, just as they did not understand me, when I walked among them as Light Spinner.”**

“Yeah, no shit, you changed your name to, like, literally the exact opposite, it’s pretty obvious,” Mermista pointed out.

**“They’ll never accept you, not like I do.”**

**“No, no! You’re wrong!” she insisted,** **_“For the honour of Grayskull!”_ **

**But she could not transform.**

“Wait, what?” Glimmer blurted out, shocked. Adora didn’t mention this part to her and Bow.

**“You know deep down what I say is true. You are the ambitious, cutthroat, ruthless warrior I raised you to be.”**

**“No,” she muttered. Her sword clanged to the floor. So did she. The sorceress knelt down beside her.**

**“The princesses don't care about you,” Shadow Weaver continued, “They want to use you for your strength. Return now to the Fright Zone. Rule by my side.”**

“She’s psychotic,” Catra said through gritted teeth.

**Adora moved away, running towards Bow and Glimmer.**

**“These are my friends,” she stressed, “They’ve been kind to me, something you never were.”**

**“I prepared you for greatness!”**

**“But you never loved me! You just played twisted mind games. I’m none of the things that you say I am, I’m not like you. You are bitter and cruel and you’re the one who used me!”**

“Wow, standing up to our abuser? Won’t see that from me in a while.”

“Catra, what did I say about joking as a coping mechanism?” Perfuma asked lightly.

Catra slumped.

**“You hurt my friends. So now you’re gonna pay.”**

“Woo! Go on Adora!” cheered Bow.

**Shadow Weaver only laughed.**

**“It’s too late. The eclipse will be over in moments! Mystacor will fall and it will be your fault.”**

**Adora locked her gaze onto her sword, smirking. She snatched it away from the shadows, and it transformed into a shield, and emitted a bright light, fighting the shadows.**

“Yes!” Glimmer yelled.

**But the eclipse was still nearly over. She climbed up one of the pillars in the centre of the room.**

**“I can give you Etheria, we can rule together!” Shadow Weaver tried, “You were nothing before I took you in, Adora, and you will be nothing without me! You’re weak-” Adora jumped to another ledge, finding herself by the last beam of light that needed to be reflected. Facing Shadow Weaver.**

Adora’s hand, which had been fidgeting with Catra’s this entire time, stilled. Catra rubbed soothing circles on the back of it.

“It’s okay.”

**“Adora, enough of this. Come home.”**

**But instead, she positioned her shield to reflect the light. “I’m not going back,” she gritted out, “You have no power over me anymore!”**

**The light reflected around the room, eradicating the shadows and reestablishing the defences.**

“Ugh, this is boring, are you ever going to lose?” Double Trouble complained. Everyone ignored them.

**“Adora! Are you okay?” Glimmer called.**

**“I’m okay. Yeah, I think I’m finally okay.”**

**“I’m so sorry we didn’t believe you!” Bow cried, “We’ve been bad friends.”**

**“No, you’re not. This is what Shadow Weaver does. She manipulates people, she pushes them apart… but it’s never gonna work on me again.”**

“Never,” she whispered, holding her girlfriend close.

**“You saved Mystacor,” Castaspella announced, “Glimmer has chosen her friends well.”**

“But, um, you don’t need my approval, of course,” she hastily added, for her past self.

**Back on the beach, Adora was sleeping. Finally. She woke with a start.**

**“Glimmer?”**

**“Right here, Adora.”**

**She relaxed, then fell back asleep.**

“Aw, that’s such a cute note to end on!” Perfuma giggled.

“Wait for it,” Catra said, and had apparently predicted correctly.

**Catra leapt into the Back Garnet Chamber. The mist cleared, and Shadow Weaver was revealed, on the floor. Catra chuckled.**

**“You’ve been going about this the wrong way, old woman. If you wanna take down Adora, you have to go for the heart.” And a vision appeared to reveal Bow, asleep on the beach.**

“Woah, wait, hold up. Did you think that me and Bow were a thing?” Adora asked incredulously.

“Well, what was I supposed to think?”

“I don’t know, that me and Glimmer were a thing? We grew up together, Catra, how did you not realise that I like girls?”

“How did you not realise I was in love with you?” she countered.

Adora visibly deflated. “Fair enough.”

“And to answer your question, I didn’t necessarily think you were a thing, I thought it was a possibility, but I knew you cared about him a lot, so that’s why, initially, we only went to kidnap him. Sparkles over here was a bonus, because I knew you cared about her, too, but I thought she’d be tougher to get, because, you know, she’s a princess.”

“Oh, that makes sense!” Bow exclaimed.

“What do you think it’ll be next,” Frosta asked, “Do you think I’ll be in it?”

“Perhaps,” Spinerella agreed.

“Let’s see, I guess.”


	8. Princess Prom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thank you all so much for your kind comments! i'm sorry again for not being able to post last sunday, but i’m back with the long-awaited Princess Prom! i hope i did it justice!  
> \- flo

“So, I’m guessing the next episode is gonna be Princess Prom, right? Since that ended on you plotting evil?” Scorpia said, glancing around the room for affirmation.

**_‘Princess Prom.’_ **

“Okay, taking that as a yes.”

**Adora was seen knocking on a door in the Castle.**

**“Uh, hey, guys, I got an invitation to the All Princess Ball, Winter Wonderland. Do you know what this is?”**

**Bow and Glimmer burst into frame, yelling about Princess Prom.**

**“Okay, you've gone crazy. I'll just come back later.”**

“We were excited, let us live,” Glimmer teased.

**“The ball is a meeting for all the princesses of Etheria,” Bow explained, once he and Glimmer had calmed down.**

**“It only happens once a decade. I've been waiting years for this!”**

**“Uh, I'm only a princess sometimes, so are you sure I should even go?”**

**“Of course!” Glimmer insisted, “Every princess is invited! That includes you!”**

“And me, um, sorry about that, Frosta,” Scorpia faltered.

The young princess locked eyes with her. “It's alright.” She said it with such force, that Scorpia genuinely believed her.

**“Rules for greeting the hostess. Expected curtsy depth? Proper stair descending etiquette?” Adora read out in disbelief.**

**“The ball has been going on for centuries. There's a lot of etiquette stuff you gotta do before you can party.”**

“All of which you seemed to decide to throw out the window,” Glimmer sighed.

“Hey! I’m pretty sure I apologised!”

**“It's gonna be so much fun! And Princess Frosta is hosting it this year in the Kingdom of Snows! Her magic is incredibly powerful. She'd be a huge get for The Rebellion!”**

“You… really wanted me. As a part of the Rebellion,” Frosta stated.

“Of course I did, Frosta. You’re crazy powerful, and a super good leader. You helped me a lot when… when I became Queen.”

**“It's the best friend squad in action! Right Bow?”**

**“About that... I'm going with Perfuma.”**

**“What?”**

Adora laughed at Bow’s discomfort and Glimmer’s obvious embarrassment.

“Wait, I thought Perfuma was only into girls?” Catra questioned.

“I am, I just didn’t realise it at the time. I thought that if I liked any guy it would be Bow, but it’s safe to say that I don’t.”

**The scene changed to the Fright Zone, with Catra ranting to Scorpia.**

**“I'm sick of this. Shadow Weaver failed to get Adora and if Hordak finds out she'll take us down with her. She's obsessed. We need to think big picture. It's time for someone new to take over. Me. So, you in?”**

**“I'm hanging out in your room!” she responded chuckling.**

**“Unfortunately, you're the only one I can trust around here.”**

**“Because we're best friends.”**

“Ugh, fine! We’re best friends!” Catra conceded, noticing Scorpia giving her puppy eyes.

“Aw, what about us, Horde Scum?” Glimmer pouted.

“You’re tolerable at best, Sparkles.”

“Nah, I think you like us,” Bow said.

**“Stop being so you and help me think. I have the beginning of a plan, but it's not enough. I need to capture Adora so Shadow Weaver doesn't demote me. I need to impress Hordak so he'll make me the new Shadow Weaver. How do I do both?”**

**“Why don't you try something at the All-Princess Ball?” Scorpia suggested, “Every princess is gonna be there, so Adora probably will be too. Ooh! This year's theme is Winter Wonderland.” She held the invitation out to Catra, who snatched it.**

**“How did you get this?”**

**“They sent it to me. I'm a princess.”**

“Did you… not know?” Glimmer asked, confused.

“Yeah, princesses are all covered in-” Adora started, but was promptly cut off.

“In Force Captain Orientation, yeah, yeah. Besides, it’s not like I went around asking every Horde soldier, ‘Hey, by any chance are you a princess? Y’know, those people we’re taught from birth to hate?’” Catra snarked.

**“You're a princess?”**

**“Yeah. The Horde crash landed in my family's kingdom. We let them stay. My family gave Hordak the Black Garnet.”**

**“You're a princess?”**

“It was a lot to take in!”

**“I thought everyone knew. I mean, it's covered in Force Captain Orientation.”**

**“I'm beginning to think I shouldn't have skipped that.” Catra muttered, “Okay, so you're a princess, and you're going to a princess ball.”**

“Princess Prom,” Glimmer corrected.

“I’m pretty sure you and Bow were the only ones who called it that before.”

**“Oh no. I'm not going. No,” Scorpia responded quickly, “No one liked my family, even before we joined the Horde. I never really fit with the other princesses. I made them uncomfortable and they don't like that. They don't like me.”**

“We absolutely do like you, Scorpia,” Perfuma comforted, turning to the other princesses for back up.

“Absolutely!” Glimmer agreed, “You’re a part of the team now!”

“You’re okay, I guess,” Mermista chimed in.

Various other words of affirmation came from the remaining princesses, all warm and loving.

“Wow… thanks, guys,” she said with a small smile on her face.

**“And that's exactly why you have to go!” Catra argued, “How dare they pretend they're better just because you're different! How dare they abandon people just because they don't fit into their perfect little lives! How dare they take best friends and turn them into giant sword ladies who run off with people clearly inferior to you!”**

“Projecting, much?” 

“Shut up, Adora.”

**“You're telling my whole life with your words.”**

“Sure, I am,” Catra drawled.

**“It's time to show those princesses a thing or two! You're going, I'm coming as your plus one and we'll make this a night no one will ever forget!”**

**“Super Pal Duo is going to prom!” Scorpia exclaimed.**

“Aw, Super Pal Duo!” Scorpia repeated, smiling ear to ear.

**Shifting the focus to Bow and Glimmer, it was clear they were having a disagreement.**

**“I didn't think it would be a big deal,” Bow admitted.**

**“It's not,” Glimmer retorted, “It's fine. I'm just surprised. When did you two even talk about it?”**

**“Oh, she was super slick.”**

**A flashback was shown of Bow and Perfuma, fighting the Horde.**

**“Wanna go to the ball with me?” Perfuma called.**

**“Okay!”**

“Not exactly the most romantic setting,” Glimmer observed.

**“I thought it'd be fun. And besides, Perfuma's cool, right?”**

**“She's fine. But we always go to events together. We have our whole routine. We wear matching outfits, share inside jokes and eat ice cream afterwards. It's our thing,” Glimmer argued.**

**“Well, there's nothing wrong with a new thing. I gotta get ready. We'll hang out there, okay?”**

**“But I liked our old thing.”**

“You’re jealous,” Adora teased, elongating her vowels to create a more mocking tone.

**“Glimmer! Good. No time to waste!” Adora called, ushering her into her bedroom, “I think advance prep will be key to success. I've divided the rules into base parts. Dance rules, etiquette rules, rules for greeting the hostess. I'm familiarizing myself with targets. Ask me anything.”**

“Ugh, you did homework on the princesses?” Catra asked.

“I was stressed!”

**“Princess Frosta,” Glimmer said.**

**“Ruler of The Kingdom of Snows, has the biggest kingdom outside of Bright Moon, neutral in the fight against the Horde. Allies with the Star Sisters who are friends with Mermista, but no Sweet Bee who is dating Peekablue as you can tell by the string. Up means friends, down means frenemies. And I made an obstacle course! I'm feeling good! I'm prepared for any and all scenarios. I am so ready for this ball.”**

“That’s… way too excessive,” Mermista criticised.

“I was  _ stressed!” _ Adora repeated.

**“Great! What are you wearing?”**

**“I was just gonna go as She-Ra. I mean, she has better hair.”**

**“Well, you can't go as She-Ra. They have a strict no weapons rule. Neutral ground and all. So, you'll have to leave your sword at the door. You know what this means? It's makeover time!”**

**A montage of Glimmer, Adora, Bow, Perfuma, Catra and Scorpia played.**

“Do you still have that suit?” Adora asked idly.

“Yeah, I think so. Why?”

“No reason,” she rushed out, turning a bit pink.

**The next thing they knew, Adora and Glimmer were outside Frosta’s castle, and the blonde was passing her sword to a staff member. Then, they entered the hall.**

**“The ball is an ancient tradition,” Glimmer explained, “A princess' first ball is a huge rite of passage. Plus, the Kingdom of Snows is really big.”**

**“Which is why we need Frosta. If she joins us, the other princesses are sure to follow.”**

“Gonna be honest, I didn’t realise there were other princesses than you guys,” Catra admitted.

“Yeah, I thought y’all were the only ones with… runestones?” Lonnie added.

“There are other princesses, but you’re right, they don’t have runestones so they can’t do magic, unless they’re a sorceress, of course. They’re like Entrapta: still rule a kingdom, just without powers like us,” Frosta explained.

**The two girls walked up to the throne and took a bow. Then, raising her head, Adora blurted out: “That's Frosta? But she's like, 10!”**

**There was a long pause.**

**“I'm eleven and three quarters,” Frosta replied icily.**

“Ugh, I’m so sorry, Frosta, I was already stressed it just slipped out and I-”

“Adora!” she stopped her, “It’s okay, really. I don’t mind.”

**“You are welcome under the ancient rules of hospitality. Leave conflict at the door and please enjoy the ball.”**

“The whole ‘leaving conflict at the door’ thing clearly went well.”

**The princesses spotted Entrapta from across the hall.**

**“Adora! Glimmer! Are you here for the social experiment too?”**

**“Social experiment?” the blonde repeated.**

**“Different groups are forced to mingle. Hierarchies form and break. It's the perfect place to observe behavior. And they have tiny food!”**

“Did you actually get around to observing any behaviour?” Hordak questioned.

“Yes! From what I picked up from Adora and Catra’s interactions, there was an indicated tension that I categorised as romantic, and it seems I was correct in my hypothesis!”

The girls in question tripped over their words, trying to formulate a response. Thy failed.

**“Where's Bow? I wanna show him my new recorder.”**

**“He's coming later,” Glimmer replied hastily.**

**“Didn't he come with you? Aren't you two friends?”**

**“Why would you think we're not?”**

“Woah, someone’s insecure,” Mermista commented.

**Then, Bow and Perfuma entered the hall.**

**“They're matching. That's out best friend thing!”**

**“Feelings seem to be getting hurt,” Entrapta muttered.**

**“Hey, I'm here too. Don't make a big thing out of it,” Mermista interrupted.**

“This is already utter chaos, and me and Scorpia aren’t even there yet,” Catra cackled.

**Glimmer watched as Bow and Perfuma laughed.**

**“They're making up their own inside jokes? What? Is Perfuma his new best friend now?”**

“That’s most definitely not what you were worried about.”

**“Look, have you seen-” Mermista began, but was cut off.**

**“She's a beauty can't you see? She's attending this with me! She's my princess of the sea! Mermista!” Sea Hawk appeared, immediately bursting into song.**

**Adora smirked. “So, Sea Hawk's your plus one?”**

**“No. He is just my ride. Just. My. Ride.”**

“Are you still so sure about that?” Sea Hawk laughed, and Mermista just buried her face in her hands in response. Though, she did also lean into her boyfriend just that little bit more.

**Glimmer spotted Bow and Perfuma walk8ng towards them, and grabs Adora’s arm quickly, laughing. “That's so funny, Adora! What a funny inside joke the two of us just came up with!”**

**“The She-Ra, Glimmer. It's great to see you,” Perfuma greeted.**

**“Isn't this fun? Adora and I are having such a good time together, just the two of us. Right, Adora?” Glimmer said, with a nudge towards the other, who was seen stuffing her face full of food.**

**“Okay. Uh, we're gonna go say hi to people. Wanna come?” Bow offered.**

**“No, you guys go on. We'll find you later. I wanna hear the rest of this funny story that Adora was just telling!”**

“That was painful to watch,” Mermista said with a wince.

“For once, I agree with the mermaid,” Catra mumbled, “How were you both that hopeless?”

“Says you,” Glimmer retorted, smirking, “Were nowhere near as hopeless as you and Adora were.”

**Adora spotted Frosta, and went over to her.**

**“Revered hostess. I've come to apologize for earlier. I was so rude.”**

**“Yes, you were,” she agreed, “But as you're only an honorary princess, you can't be expected to know better. Now, I expect you're going to ask me to join your Rebellion?”**

**“You know about that?”**

**“Of course I do. Princesses talk, you know. Nevertheless, the Horde hasn't threatened us here.”**

“I’m sorry I was so reluctant to join the Rebellion.”

“You were doing what you thought was best for your kingdom,” Micah said, “That’s nothing to be sorry for.”

**“That only because the Kingdom of Snows is so out of the way, it doesn't matter to Hordak right now. Joining the Rebellion is your best bet.”**

**“The kingdom of Snows has defended itself perfectly well for thousands of years. We do not need your help or your Rebellion. Please continue to enjoy the ball.”**

“Wow, Frosta, that’s pretty… cold of you,” Bow interjected, and Glimmer rubbed her temples and groaned. Frosta just looked unimpressed.

**Defeated, Adora walked over towards Glimmer, who was watching Bow and Perfuma with sad eyes. “Are you okay? Why does it bother you so much?”**

**“It doesn't! Bow can hang out with whoever he wants. I just-” she groaned- “I never had that many friends. It's always been just me and Bow. But now, what if he likes his new friends better? What if everyone does?”**

“Glimmer…” Bow began, but she stopped him.

“I know, I know. I’m a lot better with this stuff now, though. Both the self-esteem and communication thing.”

**“That's not gonna happen,” Adora assured her, “Trust me, Bow isn't the type to leave his old friends behind and neither am…”**

**The frame panned down to follow her gaze, which rested on the two figures who had just walked in. Scorpia… and Catra.**

**“...I.”**

“Oh, I’m sorry, what was that you were saying?” Catra teased.

“I swore it was something about-”

“Yes, we get it! I left the Horde!”

**Adora ran up to the throne as the two Horde members introduced themselves, insisting that they should not be allowed in.**

**“They're up to something. I can feel it,” she said.**

**“That's enough!” Frosta yelled, “You look at me and see a child, but I have worked too hard to gain respect all to throw it away just because you feel they are up to something. For centuries the All-Princess Ball has been neutral ground. I will not dishonor that legacy. Scorpia is a princess. Princesses get plus ones. They stay.”**

“Damn, Princess,” Lonnie mumbled, an appreciative smile on her face.

**“Really, Adora? I'm shocked. We're not breaking any rules. Didn't you read the invite?” Catra mocked.**

**“I know you're plotting something. From now until the second the ball ends, I'll be watching. Wherever the two of you go, I go.”**

**“Suit yourself. Have fun following us!”**

**Adora followed Catra, who was seen dropping a note in the garbage can and Adora pushed her way to look for it. The note is revealed to say ‘Hey Adora’.**

“You were just messing with me,” Adora grumbled.

“Oh, absolutely. It was fun, though.”

**“Bow! Wait up!” Glimmer called, shifting the focus to them.**

**“Glimmer. Hi.”**

**“There's something I need to tell you. I know things between us have been weird all night. I just wanted to say..”**

**“I accept your-”**

**“I forgive you.”**

“Oh dear,” Perfuma mumbled, “That’s not good.”

**“You forgive me? Glimmer, I'm allowed to hang out with other people,” Bow said.**

**“B-b-but that's how it starts,” she stuttered, “Suddenly everyone has new friends and no one needs me anymore. And then, I'm all alone!”**

**“What are you talking about? you have me, plus Adora and everyone who joined the Rebellion.”**

**“That's what i'm talking about. It used to be just us. And now, everything's changing. I don't want you to leave me behind.”**

Bow embraced the princess tightly, rubbing circles onto her back.

“Bow, I’m okay, really,” she insisted.

“I would give you a reassuring but stern speech, but I have a feeling past-me can do it.”

**“No one is leaving you behind. I wanted to hang out with you and Adora and Perfuma tonight. But you're the one who keeps acting weird and leaving. I know change is scary, Glimmer. But that doesn't mean you get to take it out on me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to go get my cummerbund because it is freezing in here! We'll talk later, okay?”**

“Couldn’t have said it better myself- Oh, wait.”

**Focusing in on Adora, she noticed Catra raising a hand behind Entrapta, who was perched on the fencing of a balcony. “Don't touch her!” she panicked.**

**“You're right. This is a much better vantage point for my observations,” Entrapta told Catra, only then noticing the other girl, “Hi Adora. Have you met my new assistant? She brought snacks.”**

**“She stole my food then asked me to spy on people with her. Is this what love feels like?”**

“Well, was it?” Adora mused, a smile playing on her face.

“You know it wasn’t, stop rubbing it in. Uh, no offence, Entrapta.”

“None taken!”

**“Entrapta, she's from the Horde.” A pause. “The people the Rebellion are fighting.” Another pause. “The Rebellion you're a part of!”**

**“Oh. Well, we should keep a better eye on her 'cause she just walked away.”**

“Was the Rebellion always this chaotic and low-functioning? How did we not beat you at this point?” Lonnie asked incredulously.

**In a new scene, Bow noticed a shadowy figure outside. Then he realised who it was.**

**“Is that a- Oh no! Princess Scorpia is planting heat bombs! We have to stop her!” Footsteps approached.**

**“What are you doing? Let me go!”**

“I am so sorry, Bow,” Scorpia said, teary eyed.

“Aw, Scorp! You’re okay, everyone’s already apologised and forgiven everyone else for all the things we’ve done to each other, you’re good,” he comforted.

Kyle shuffled in his seat in between his two partners.

**Back in the hall, the first dance began. Adora and Catra grabbed each other’s hands.**

**“I don't know about you, but I am having a blast,” she muttered as they swayed.**

**“Whatever you're planning, it won't work.”**

**“You sure?”**

“See! Threats! That was a threat!”

“Yeah, obviously. I was done being subtle at that point, I just wanted to cause chaos.”

**They switched partners, leaving Adora with a crying Glimmer.**

**“I got into a fight with Bow and I don't know where Scorpia is!”**

**“What? Glimmer don't-”**

“This is making me feel tense, and, like, I was actually there. I know what happens,” Mermista sighed.

**She then switched to Perfuma.**

**“Have you seen Bow? He went to get his cummerbund, right around when that Horde princess left,” the flower princess said.**

**“Do you mean Scorpia?” But they switched again. Back to Glimmer.**

**“Glimmer, when did you last see Bow?” Adora asked her.**

**“A while ago. Isn't he with Perfuma?”**

**“No. Perfuma says he's been gone this entire time.”**

“You’re absolutely right! I feel so stressed when I, too, was there and am aware of the outcome,” Sea Hawk replied.

**Finally, Adora was back to dancing with Catra.**

**“Maybe my plan won't work.” Then, the lights changed and Adora was dipped. “But then again, maybe it already has. Say, where's your friend, Bow?”**

“Ugh, I was such a bitch,” Catra murmured.

“Yeah, kinda,” Adora agreed, “But you’re not anymore.”

**Adora pushed Catra down in anger, earning gasps from the crowd. She turned to Frosta. “Revered hostess, she's got-”**

**“Princess Ball is a ceremony of unity. Violence is strictly forbidden,” the young princess interrupted.**

**“You don't understand.”**

**“I understand perfectly. In accordance with the rules set over the centuries, I hereby revoke your invitation. You are to leave my kingdom and never, ever-”**

**But the ground rumbled.**

“I should have listened to you.”

**“Glimmer! Catra has Bow. You have to find him!” Adora yelled, before turning back to her former friend, “Catra. What did you do?”**

**“I did nothing. Scorpia, Lonnie and Kyle on the other hand were very busy. It was fun distracting you though.”**

“Well, it was kinda fun. Not the hurting people part!” she added hastily.

**Outside, Glimmer found the rest of the Horde members, but Scorpia stung her before she could do any serious damage. On the other side of the castle, Adora and Catra fought. Then, Catra missed. She hovered over the edge of the cliff, fully expecting to fall. But Adora grabbed her shirt, keeping her from falling.**

“Even when you guys fight you could never really bring yourselves to hurt each other,” Scorpia smiled. The two girls looked at each other uncomfortably at that. This was just the beginning. They still considered each other friends. But they both knew that went away before Horde Prime.

**Then, a rumbling sent them both off the cliff, but Adora digs her hair clip into the stone, grabbing it with one hand and Catra with the other.**

**“Hang on! I can get us out of this!”**

**“Oh, Adora. I don't want you to.” And Catra let go.**

“That was a dick move,” Adora mumbled.

**A ship rose from underneath her, inside was the four Horde members, and Bow and Glimmer, both knocked out.**

**“See ya later, Princess.”**

**Adora was left hanging from her hair clip, overlooking a lethal drop, and she sobbed.**

“I’m sorry,” Catra whispered. They had all said far too many sorries. But Adora accepted this one.


	9. No Princess Left Behind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long story short, I’m back! I’m really sorry to anyone who was worried about me, I’ll go into detail about the reasons I’ve been absent at the end of the chapter if you’re interested (don’t feel obligated to read it, only if you’re curious!) but I’m hoping to begin posting again. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and, as always, if you see any mistakes feel free to point them out so that I can correct them!  
> \- flo

“At least we’re probably gonna be rescued in this one,” Bow tried, in an attempt to lift everyone’s spirits.

**_‘No Princess Left Behind.’_ **

“See!” he exclaimed.

But a few princesses shifted, as if they were suddenly realising that the title wasn’t quite true.

**It opened on Catra holding Adora’s sword, cackling.**

**“Check this thing out,” she remarked, turning to the figure behind her, “You’ve got to admit, Shadow Weaver, in a single mission I inflicted more damage on the Rebellion than anyone else. I succeeded where even you failed.”**

Adora sighed. “Did you have to antagonise her?”

“Yes?”

**Just then, the screen in the Black Garnet Chamber flashed, revealing Hordak.**

**“Shadow Weaver.”**

**“My Lord.”**

**“I commend you on the capture of the Princess of Bright Moon. Queen Angella has been given until the morning’s moonrise to surrender herself to our forces.”**

No one noticed, eyes fixed on the screen, but Micah sent a sharp glare to Hordak.

**“You have proven your worth to me. Today.” And the screen flashed again, so he disappeared.**

**Catra scoffed. “You’re worth? I’m the one who brought back the Princess of Bright Moon. Not you.”**

**“You’re under my command, Force Captain, therefore, anything you manage to do right is credited to me,” she said, snatching the sword from Catra’s grasp. The feline sent A glare her way, but still locked out of the room all the same. Then, from behind Shadow Weaver, Glimmer could be seen, restrained.**

“Glimmer…” Micah breathed.

“I’m okay, it’s okay,” she reassured.

**Focus shifted to the War Room within Bright Moon, where Angela sat, alone.**

**“Your Majesty…” Adora began from the doorway.**

**“I should’ve never let her leave this castle. And now, I’m faced with an impossible decision. As leader of the Rebellion, how can I surrender myself to our enemy? And yet, as a mother how can I-”**

“To be fair, it would be pretty hard to stop me from leaving. I mean, I can teleport,” Glimmer reasoned.

**“I’m going to accept Hordak’s terms. Glimmer is all I have.”**

“Mom…” Glimmer squeaked, face dropping.

**“You can’t,” Adora insisted, “We have no guarantee the horde will hold up their end of the bargain. We could end up losing you, too.”**

**“A rescue attempt is too risky.”**

“Well, she wasn’t exactly wrong there,” Frosta mumbled.

**If we had She-Ra we might have a chance, but without the Sword of Protection…”**

**Adora looked down, clenching her fists.**

“Hey, you know that wasn’t your fault, right?” Glimmer said.

“Yeah, of course…” Adora agreed, but Catra felt her tense up.

**“There has to be another way. We can’t just give up. I can rescue them. I know the Fright Zone. I’ll find a way to get them back.”**

“You can’t just break into the Fright Zone on your own, Adora,” Catra sighed.

“And I didn’t!”

“You considered it.”

**Adora walked away, and down the halls, dejected. Letting out a noise of frustration, she began to sob slightly. She turned a corner, and instead of facing another empty hallway, she was met with four familiar faces.**

“Yes! I’m back!” Sea Hawk exclaimed.

**“What are you all doing here?”**

**“We’re the Princess Alliance,” Mermista said simply, “And the Horde took one of our own.”**

**“We’re ready for our first mission!”**

**“Let’s go get our friends back.”**

“Is Sea Hawk… a member of the Princess Alliance?” Bow questioned.

Sea Hawk gasped. “Am I?”

“No, dude, you’re not.”

**An alarm buzzed, and they were back in the Fright Zone, where Kyle seemed to be carrying a tray towards a cell.**

“Hey! It’s me!” said the boy, excited.

**He typed in a code and Bow was revealed to be inside the cell.**

“Wait… you two have met before?” Adora realised.

Bow’s eyes widened. Kyle’s looked down.

”He was the first person from the Rebellion who I had an actual conversation with. Sort of made me realise… that maybe the Horde wasn’t that great.”

“Woah, really?” the archer asked. Kyle met his eyes, smiled, and nodded.

**“Hey. What’s your name?” Bow said after Kyle turned around.**

**“Me?” he asked, whipping his head back towards the other boy, “You’re talking to me?”**

**“Sure. Is that alright?”**

**“Uh, I guess, but no one ever talks to me. I’m Kyle!”**

“It’s okay, guys, this was way before we started getting closer. And the team wasn’t in the best place because Adora had just left, and all that.”

“If you’re sure,” Lonnie said, unconvinced.

**“Hey, Kyle. I’m Bow. Can you do me a favour? ? Can you tell me where they’re holding the princess? She’s my best friend. No one will let me talk to her or even tell me if she’s okay.”**

“Aw, I’m your best friend?” Glimmer smiled.

Bow rolled his eyes. “Duh! Of course you’re my best friend.”

**“Ah, I’m sure she’s fine. Maybe. Or she’s not, I don’t know.”**

**“Do you know where she is?”**

**“No, that kind of information is classified. They wouldn’t tell me.”**

**“You have to help me get a message to her.”**

**But all Kyle did was stutter some excuse and rush off.**

“Sorry about that,” the blonde said, embarrassed.

“No, It’s okay, I was being kind of pushy.”

**The focus shifted back to Adora, who was planning, with the Alliance, how to rescue Bow and Glimmer.**

**“Entrapta, this perfume bottle is you. Perfuma, you’re the nail polish. Mermista, lipstick,” she explained.**

**“I feel like Perfuma should be the perfume bottle.”**

**“Can I be this miniature painted model of Bow?”**

**“No. That represents Bow.”**

“Do you guys ever stop bickering?” Netossa smirked.

**“Our entry point will be here, near the Horde’s scrapyard,” Adora continued, as the scene shifted to them infiltrating the Fright Zone as she talked, “It’s close to the prison and lightly guarded. Perfuma and Entrapta will access the security tower and wait for my signal to disable to lights. Mermista will access the Fright Zone sewer system. She’ll swim through the pipes, into the building and open the door. Sea Hawk and I will take up position by the entrance. The two of us will neutralise any guards on patrol, Entrapta and Perfuma will regroup on our position and the team will enter when Mermista opens the door.”**

“Why do I just know that none of that will go well?”

**The plan was then shown as it was carried out. Mermista entered through the sewer system, Adora sent the signal to the others, and Entrapta turned the lights off. Then, things started to go wrong.**

“I knew it.”

**Adora knocked on the door, expecting Mermista to open it, but there was no answer.**

**“She must’ve gotten held up,” she murmured.**

**Then, Entrapta was shown to keep getting distracted by the tech at the scrapyard, much to Perfuma’s annoyance. The scene switches back to Adora, who sees Scorpia approaching and tries to get Sea Hawk’s attention. She failed.**

**“Halt. Who are you?” Scorpia called to Sea Hawk.**

**“Me? I’m the inspector.”**

“Scorp, how the hell did you fall for that!”

“I’m a trusting person!”

**“Inspector, of course! I must have forgotten you were coming. We're long overdue for an inspection, I do have to admit it, but I can assure you we are up to code,” Scorpia rambled.**

A few people were trying to suppress giggles. Catra rolled her eyes while patting her friend on the back, who groaned and hid her face in her claws.

**“Wha...? How did this happen? We had a plan.”**

“Adora, you had to know that your plans rarely actually work out,” Catra pointed out.

“Hey! This was our first real mission!”

**Entrapta and Perfuma approached the panicked girl, who immediately rounded on them.**

**“Where have you two been?”**

**“I tried to get here sooner but harmonious teamwork with Entrapta can be… a challenge,” Perfuma said, trying to remain calm.**

“Wow, you guys were bad,” Frosta observed, “It wasn’t this much of a train wreck when I joined!”

**Their conversation was halted when alarms began to blare. Luckily, the door flew open to reveal an extremely wet Mermista.**

**“Huh? What happened to you?”**

**“Uh, the sewer happened to me.”**

“By the way, I don’t care what we’re up against, I am never doing that again.”

**“We can't waste any more time. Bow and Glimmer need us,” Adora said, almost hysterically. The doors clanged closed, and Horde soldiers were heard talking in the background.**

**“We need to get to an information port,” the blonde continued, “I'll hack into the database and identify the cell block Glimmer and Bow are being held in.”**

**“Hey, where's the geeky princess?”**

“Oh dear,” Castaspella sighed.

**“Don't worry. We'll find Entrapta and Sea Hawk and we'll rescue Glimmer and Bow!”**

**“I don't know, that sounds like a lot,” Mermista said, before receiving a glare, “But you know me, I'm totally up for anything.”**

Catra snorted at the water princesses antics.

**The scene switched to elsewhere in the Fright Zone, where Entrapta could be seen talking.**

**“Fright Zone log, day one continued. Keypads appear in every corridor and are capable of giving status updates on multiple systems.” A bot went by, and Entrapta immediately followed it, fascinated.**

“Hold on a second, is that…” Scorpia trailed off.

“Emily?” Catra finished.

“Absolutely! Before i reprogrammed her, obviously, but that bot was the initial framework for her!”

**The scene switched to the Black Garnet Chamber.**

“Oh, no,” Glimmer muttered.

**“I should warn you Princess,” Shadow Weaver said in her silky voice, approaching Glimmer in her restraints, “Any attempt to teleport through these restraints will only cause you pain. It seems my Black Garnet and your powers don't mix. Besides, your mother will be here soon.”**

**“I know all about you and your mind games, Shadow Weaver. Adora told me, so save it! And, by the way, she's not a fan.”**

“I don't think any of us are,” Catra mumbled into Adora’s side.

**“But I'm not playing games. What I said about Queen Angella is true. She's coming to surrender herself in exchange for your safety. Oh, it's such a shame, the toll this rebellion has taken on your family. First you lose your father…”**

“Ugh, I hate her,” Castaspella said darkly. Micah stared at the screen, transfixed at the sight of his old mentor torturing and taunting his daughter.

**“She-Ra will stop you!” Glimmer insisted.**

**“There is no She-Ra! We have the sword. Not Adora. There will be no one left to stop the Horde. In a few hours Bright Moon will fall and Etheria will be ours to rule.”**

“Well, now we know that’s not true,” Glimmer laughed lightly, trying to ignore the fact that everyone she cares about was seeing one of the few moments she’s felt truly helpless.

**Glimmer grunted, and her magic thrummed before the dark magic zapped her.**

**“Oh, tsk-tsk. Careful now. It would be a shame if we had no princess to exchange for the Queen.”**

Everyone drew in a breath at that.

**The focus shifted to Scorpia and Sea Hawk, who were still ‘inspecting’ the Fright Zone.**

**“Well, you Horde types run a tight ship, I must say. Everything seems up to code. Yes indeed, entirely up to code. You pass with flying colors. Now, unless you have something else for me to inspect, I should get home to my inspector children.”**

“Babe, you’re a terrible liar,” Mermista sighed.

“Well, you can’t expect me to be perfect at everything! Like I am with romance…”

Mermista groaned in response.

**“You know, you look familiar…” Scorpia pondered.**

**Sea Hawk gulped, “Perhaps you've seen me, in your dreams?”**

“She… likes girls,” Frosta said, staring at Sea Hawk expectantly,

“Well I didn’t know that!”

**“No, that's not it. Princess Prom. That's where I know you from. I knew it would come to me-” she paused- “You're with the Rebellion.”**

“Finally!” Lonnie thanked any higher beings that may exist.

**Suddenly, a computer terminal beeped, and Sea Hawk read the display of words.**

**“‘Duck?’”**

**“Oh, where?”**

**“Oh! Duck!”**

**Scorpia yelled as she was flung away, and Entrapta appeared.**

There were some scattered cheers, even from Scorpia herself.

**“Oh! That was a top-notch rescue,” Sea Hawk complimented.**

**“To be honest I wasn't sure which one of you I was gonna hit.”**

“Ah, now I know why I recruited her,” Catra said with a smirk, earning a few bursts of laughter.

**The focus switched to Adora and her team.**

**“Okay, I found Bow's cell, but I can't find Glimmer in here anywhere. They must be holding her somewhere else. This isn't good.” Then, a door flew open and a bot burst out.**

**“What should we do?” Perfume asked, panicked.**

**“I'm not going back in the sewer.”**

**Suddenly, Entrapta appeared with Sea Hawk, “It's okay. This is my new friend, Emily. I reprogrammed her.”**

**“Where have you been?”**

**“Where have** **_you_ ** **been?”**

“Wow, you’re a mess,” Catra chuckled.

“I’m pretty sure you already said that at some point,” Adora replied, head in her hands.

“That doesn’t make it any less true!”

**“It doesn't matter. We're all together. Let's finish this,” Adora said, stopping the chaos.**

“How did that work?”

**“Bow's cell is in section B, level 20. We'll get him out first then figure out where Glimmer is. Entrapta, can you get us up there?”**

**“Yes! I can. I mean, maybe. I don't know. I'm definitely gonna try,” she laughed a little, “This is gonna be fun!”**

**“Okay,” Adora then turned to the others, “Sea Hawk, Perfuma you're with me.”**

**“I'll keep an eye on this one-” Mermista pointed towards Entrapta- “in case she tries to befriend any more robots.”**

“Oh, the problem was the pairings,” Lonnie realised. At the blank looks she received from half the room, she blinked, then, elaborated.

“Well, Perfuma and Entrapta weren’t really working well together, and Adora and Sea Hawk alone won’t work, they need someone to balance out their… eccentricities. And, like Mermista said, she didn’t like the sewers.”

**“Bow. Bow!” Kyle called as he approached the cell.**

**“Kyle?”**

**“I'm supposed to be in the barracks. Lonnie made me cover her latrine duty.”**

“And you left to… talk to a prisoner?”

**“What's going on?” Bow asked.**

**“I found out where your friend is being kept. Shadow Weaver has her in the Black Garnet chamber.”**

**“Oh, that sounds bad.”**

“No kidding,” Glimmer muttered.

**“Yeah, it's pretty bad,” Kyle agreed, “But she's alive, at least. Shadow Weaver is planning to ransom her in exchange for the Queen.”**

**“Why are you telling me this?”**

“I didn’t realise you were starting to defect this early on,” Adora said, wide-eyed, “Kyle… why didn’t you come to the Rebellion sooner?”

Kyle faltered, and saw his datemates, Lonnie and Rogelio, staring at him, the same question shining in their eyes. He shifted in between them, trying to find the words. Luckily, the scene before them took their attention away.

**“I don't know. I guess, because you're the first person who's ever listened to me.”**

**“I mean, I'm being held prisoner, so... I don't know that I have a choice, but sure!”**

“Kyle…” Lonnie breathed, turning to her boyfriend, who was currently being held tightly by Rogelio. Various princesses stared in shock at Bow.

“That was… kind of… mean,” Perfuma said, mostly to herself.

“Gonna be honest, I didn’t think you had a single malicious bone in your body,” Catra added.

“I didn’t really remember that,” Bow admitted, a little shocked.

**On the moving platform, the princesses were seen fighting some Horde members, including Lonnie, as Entrapta was trying to figure out how it worked, accidentally bringing it up and down.**

**“You think you can just come back here?” Lonnie yelled at Adora.**

**“I need to save my friends.”**

**“We were your friends.”**

“I understand why you left Adora,” Lonnie said, cutting off the apology that she knew was coming, “I didn’t then, but I do now, and I already forgave you.”

**The scene moved back to Kyle, but the fight was still going on behind him.**

**“No one's ever, ever asked for my help before. People here don't think I can do anything right.”**

**“Um-hm. That seems tough.”**

“Bow! You’re not even listening to him!” Perfuma cried.

“In my defence, the full-on battle going on behind him was a little distracting!”

**“Why am I telling you this? I shouldn't even be here. I'm going to get into so much trouble if I get caught.”**

**“No! Wait, I mean-” Bow laughed “We're just talking. How much trouble could you get in for talking?”**

**Kyle scoffed, “Oh, you'd be surprised. I get in trouble for everything around here.”**

“Don’t act like that wasn’t true,” Kyle mumbled as Rogelio started at his comment.

**“That doesn't seem fair.”**

**“I know! But then I thought how brave you are for wanting to save your friend. And maybe, if I helped you, you could be my friend too.”**

**“Uh, sure, friends, definitely. We can be friends.”**

“Bow?” Glimmer said, in disbelief.

“That was so obviously not genuine, wow,” Mermista marvelled.

“I didn’t think you’d ever do something like that,” Adora admitted.

“I… wow, I was a jerk,” he realised, and frantically turned to meet Kyle’s eyes, “Kyle, I’m so sorry. You were a Horde soldier, and that was all I chose to see, even after you helped me. I was probably the reason you didn’t defect sooner, which wasn’t fair on you, because that meant you had to stay in the Horde, full of people who were horrible to you, and if I’d have just been a little bit kinder to you… maybe you wouldn’t have had to go through that. Fuck, I’m the one who preaches about friendship, but I clearly don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“I- wow, Bow, it’s… well, I forgive you. I get that you were stressed and so much was happening at once so I never really blamed you for that, I was just upset. And, I don’t know, maybe we can try being friends, for real this time?”

Bow smiled, “I’d like that, Kyle.”

“Aw, that’s the genuine Bow I know!” Glimmer yelled.

**They turned their attention back to the screen, where the Horde soldiers had been defeated and Kyle had been thrown in with them.**

**“Bow! We're here to save you,” Sea Hawk declared.**

**“Bow! Bow, where's Glimmer?” Adora questioned.**

**“Shadow Weaver has her in the Black Garnet chamber. Adora, what are we gonna do?” An alarm blared.**

**“Come on.”**

“Oh, I remember this, this wasn’t fun,” Catra complained.

“Was any of this fun?”

“You got me there.”

**Adora signalled to a way out the Fright Zone.**

**“This vent system leads to where you can steal a skiff. Each chamber needs to be sealed and purged before you can move on to the next one. The doors will only stay open for a few seconds, so keep up the pace.”**

**“Adora, what are you doing?” Bow asked nervously.**

**“Don't worry about me. I'm gonna buy you some time and find Glimmer. Meet you there, okay?”**

**“Adora!” he yelled, but the doors slammed shut. She turned to the soldiers on their tail.**

**“I surrender, take me to see Shadow Weaver.”**

“Does the self-sacrifice play ever get old to you?” Catra grumbled.

**Immediately, Adora was shown being dragged into the chamber.**

**“Glimmer, I'm here. Don't worry everything will be okay. I'll save you. What have you done to her?” she said, rounding on Shadow Weaver.**

**“Leave us. Report to the Force Captain barracks and pack your things. Now that Adora is back, there's no need for you there.”**

**“Seriously? After everything I've done for you, it's still her you want?” Catra shouted.**

**“I said go!”**

“Fuck Shadow Weaver,” Catra sighed. Rogelio growled.

“Fuck Shadow Weaver.” Lonnie.

“Fuck Shadow Weaver.” Kyle.

“Fuck Shadow Weaver.” Adora.

“Fuck Shadow Weaver.” Micah. Catra looked at him, surprised, before grinning.

**“Shadow Weaver, I'll stay here with you willingly, but you have to let Glimmer go first,” Adora tried to bargain.**

**“You are correct Adora. You shall stay willingly, because I am going to wipe your mind. You'll have no memory of She-Ra or the time you spent with the Rebellion. Everything will be as it once was. As for the Princess, once I'm done, you'll be happy to have her as your prisoner.”**

“What a psychotic bitch,” Mermista remarked.

Adora just sighed and nodded, “Just mom things.”

Despite herself, Catra cackled.

**The scene switched to Bow and the rest.**

**“We need to go back for Glimmer and Adora,” he insisted.**

**“We need to do what Adora said,” Perfuma replied, “They'll make it out and we'll be ready with the skiff. No princess will be left behind.”**

“Oh, no.”

**Back in the Black Garnet Chamber, Adora was moaning in pain, and Glimmer, finding new strength in the desperation to stop Shadow Weaver, pushed her magic to the maximum and teleported out of her restraints, stopping Shadow Weaver.**

Various cheer scattered the room. Micah and Castaspella marvelled at her power.

**“Adora, are you okay? Do you know who I am?”**

**“Glimmer,” she whispered.**

“I was so scared you’d straight-up not know who I am.”

**Back with the others, they were nearly out.**

**“We made it. This way to the vehicle bay,” Sea Hawk pointed. They all followed, except Entrapta, who noticed Emily was stuck.**

**“Wait. Emily!”**

**“Entrapta! No!”**

**But the door clanged shut behind her, setting off explosions inside.**

“Ah…” Entrapta trailed off, “I-um, wow, I understand the thought process that led you to believe I was dead.” Her voice sounded hollow,

**“Glimmer, what's happening?” Adora asked, as they ran into a hallway.**

**“I don't know. I can't teleport.”**

**“What?”**

“Oh, I forgot the Black Garnet infected you!”

“It can do that?” asked Scorpia, worried.

“Not anymore, I don’t think,” Glimmer said.

**Catra stalked down the hall, Sword of Protection scraping along the floor, murderous look on her face.**

**“Catra. What are you doing?”**

**She held the sword up, ready to swing, and then-**

“Oh,” a few princesses said in surprise, half expecting a brawl for the sword that Asia and Glimmer won.

**Catra offered her the handle.**

**“Take it,” she said, and then, “This is not because I like you.”**

“Are you sure about that?”

**“Catra, I…”**

**“Just get out of here.”**

**_“For the honor of Grayskull!”_ **

**Catra looked at She-Ra, forlorn. Soon, they found their way to the skiff, and raced their way through the Whispering Woods.**

**“Wait, where's Entrapta?” She-Ra questioned.**

Entrapta didn't know how to feel anymore. She thought she knew what happened, but seeing things play out from a different perspective just changed so much for her. She felt overwhelmed.

**“Entrapta didn't make it.”**

**“What do you mean?”**

**“She's gone.”**

**“Well, then, we have to go back for her.”**

**“No, she's... She's really gone.”**

“I’m so sorry, Entrapta, we should’ve gone back, even just to check, I…”

“It’s… okay, Adora.”

**On the screen, She-Ra sobbed.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! So, about a month and a half ago, I went back to school, but it only lasted two weeks because it made me lose lots of motivation to complete work, as I’ve been excelling at home. That meant that my work kept piling up as I wasn’t doing it, and I experienced some of the worst executive disfunction I’ve ever had. Even when I stopped going to school again, those two weeks really threw me off my game and it’s been a struggle to complete my basic school work. Even though my school finished nearly two weeks ago, I’m still trying to catch up on work. My thought process was that I needed to complete my school work before writing more of this fic, but honestly? I love this fic, and it makes me happy, so I’m going to do it anyway. I am truly sorry to anyone who I may have worried in my absence, and people who were waiting for updates. I promise I will try to be better! And thank you all for reading <3


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